ALS2: Camping Trip
by Dimitri's.Smexi.Shewolf
Summary: More surprises are in store for the gang as they escape from Court for a well-earned break. After a ridiculous road trip, they reach Peaceful Pines Campsite. With surprise guests, parties and discoveries, the bonds between them become even stronger as they grow closer over the week. Part 4 in my AFTER LAST SACRIFICE series.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey people :D So this is the 4****th**** part of my ALS series, so if you haven't read the others, go back and do that first :) There's more DPOV in this one, so enjoy ;)**

**And to everyone who has Twitter; FOLLOW WEINSTEIN COMPANY right now! They're going to release the trailer soon if people follow, or something like that. I don't have twitter, so if anything interesting happens, please PM and tell me! I'll keep looking for as much as I can without an account and will update with news if I find anything myself. We have to work together on this, people! **

**Anyway, enough of that. On with the story :D **

**This story is dedicated to my best friend Vicky (YueShadow), for reading these drafts, convincing me that I _am_ actually funny and have stories worth reading, fangirling with me, and showing me fanfiction in the first place. And putting up with my insanity :P You go, girl. Adrian loves you too ;) **

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead, all rights go to her. **

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**RPOV**

"Okay, we are leaving in 10 minutes." Dimitri shouted up the stairs

"If you aren't there, we'll leave ahead of you!" Christian added.

We all exchanged hurried glances, and finished stuffing the rest of our stuff into the final suitcase. This one contained all our toiletries and hair products that we hadn't been able to put in the car the night before, as we had needed to use them this morning. All the rest were already in the car.

We were going on a camping trip, Lissa, Christian, Mia, Eddie, Sydney, Adrian, Dimitri and I. We were escaping court for a week, because in the 6 months Lissa had been Queen she had been in non-stop meetings. She had wanted to get away for a while, but her first priority had been to change the age law. Thankfully, novices had to be 18 again before they graduated, and Moroi now had the option to take offensive magic and basic combat classes at school. It hadn't solved the problem entirely, but it had sure lessened it.

Lissa wasn't entirely supposed to leave court, it was too dangerous to leave the wards and people might have thought she was slacking off. But we had a plan to make it look like she had never left. Christian, and by default Dimitri, were supposed to be having a top-secret meeting with a fire-using Moroi in Romania, to share skills. That was total bullshit.

To replace her, Lissa had recently discovered how to make a Spirit copy of herself, something she called a 'golden shadow'. It walked and talked like Lissa, and if need be Lissa could control it from afar by sending her consciousness into it, much like I had done with the bond, but with the power to control the body, not just watch. For the duration Lissa's illicit 10 day break, she would spend 3 days in 'meetings' with Sonya discussing Spirit and practicing, after which she would be very tired and would stay in her room for a few days, recovering. Then, she would walk around like normal, but since she would still be 'under the weather', she would have no hard meetings.

Yes, a few people would talk, and say that is she had to have 'time off' then she was not fit to rule. But spending a couple of days at home was better than the admitting that she was taking a 10 day holiday, because the stress of ruling really was wearing her out. The darkness had begun to show itself a bit over the last few weeks, so we hoped that by blowing off a bit of steam in the great outdoors she could keep it at bay.

For the first part of the trip, the 8 of us would split into 2 cars, boys and girls. We were to have a road-trip type race to the campground, where we would be met by more Guardians. Lissa and Adrian had figured out how to do group Spirit charms without using too much magic. It was called a 'glamour zone'.

That meant that to anyone who was present at the time of the charm would be under it, until it was lifted. It was basically like a giant Spirit disguise, but everyone who was under it would be able to see each other clearly, but others outside of it, even other spirit users and those who suspected a charm, would not be able to see through it, unless they were present at the time of casting. It was something to do with a super-strong mix of Compulsion, disguising and Earth magic- Lissa and Adrian had teamed up to cast it, with the other Moroi in our group teaming up to help add their small amount of Earth magic to the mix.

So now, we were all set to go. It was a race to the campground, and naturally we were not relying on fair play to get us there first, especially not with Dimitri driving the other car. Each of us had contributed a few dirty tricks to ensure that our dignity remained intact, as whoever won this challenge would be able to make the following week hell for the other team

**DPOV**

I closed the door behind Eddie and Adrian before going over to the stairs and shouting;  
"Okay, we are leaving in 10 minutes." I hoped they didn't come down just yet, though knowing Rose; they would push the deadline up to the last second.

"If you aren't there, we'll leave ahead of you!" Christian added.

I panicked for a moment. I wanted to say goodbye to Roza before we left, I wouldn't see her again for 2 days, and when I did, she wouldn't be happy to see me, as we would have undoubtedly got to the campsite first.

I needn't have worried. I heard the bedroom door open a couple of minutes later, just as Eddie and Adrian came in through the back door. They gave me a thumbs up .I nodded, and turned to smile at Roza as she came down the stairs. Before she reached the bottom, I held out my hand, and she took it.

When she stepped down onto the floor, I pulled her into my arms.  
"Stay safe, Roza. No crazy driving."

She looked at me incredulously.  
"Coming from you? Who drives like the bad guy in a crazy cop movie?" I just smiled.

"Only when we're running for our lives. I wouldn't want to risk crashing, and having to admit defeat."

"Well, I hope you have your speech planned, because that's exactly what you will be doing" Before I could think of a comeback, she reached up and kissed me. I gave up and kissed her back, trying to commit to memory the way her soft skin felt against mine, the feeling of electricity coursing through us wherever our skin touched, the inexplicable completion I felt when we were pressed together. We may have started off on different sides of the world, but something had brought together that was greater than distance, and it would take more than that to keep us apart ever again. In that moment, I didn't care who won or lost the race to the campsite, I just wanted for us both to be there as soon as possible, as every second apart was a second that I wished I was wherever she was.

We broke apart as someone cleared their throat behind us.  
I turned to see Christian and Adrian standing there, tapping their feet on the floor impatiently, and Eddie and Mia came over to pull Roza and me apart. I kept hold of her hand for as long as possible, until just our fingertips were touching before the connection was broken and I was left feeling as though a part of me was missing.

"Come on, Cradle Robber. Drop the girl." Adrian said in a tired voice.

"Yeah, don't hog the cradle. We need her now." Mia added.

"Bitch please. You're hardly one to talk about older guys, are you?" Rose asked rhetorically. Mia looked down, embarrassed. I'd have to find out about that later.

"The sooner we leave, the sooner you'll see each other again. All of us." Lissa said, instantly dissolving the tension.

Roza picked up the last bag, and as we all walked through the door, I stole one last quick kiss, loving the feeling of light that spread throughout my body at the briefest touch, though all too soon it was gone.

Just as I got into the driver's seat, I heard saw Roza hug Eddie, then Adrian. I wasn't surprised at the first 2, but when she did the same to Christian, I knew something was up. I looked closer at her, and saw that her hands had a small amount of powder on them, the rest of which was smeared over Adrian and Christian's necks. I caught her eye and raised one eyebrow. She laughed and winked, then blew me a kiss before getting into the driver's seat of her own car.

With every second that passed, I felt more uneasy. Sure, the guys had set up a few things to annoy the girls and make their trip hell, but I was sure that whatever we could think of, Roza could do worse. She might have even thought of ways to slow us down.

I turned in my seat as I heard a commotion outside the car. The other guys were apparently fighting about who got shotgun.  
"But I called it!" Whined Christian.

"What the hell? I ain't sitting next to pretty boy for the next 48 hours! His man-perfume is choking me already!" Eddie shouted back.

"I'm Moroi! It's 10 times worse for me!"

"I don't care! You can just heat up the air and make the smell go in the other direction or something." Eddie fired back.

"Good idea... but not the point. I want to ride shotgun with Dimitri! Our girlfriends have known each other longest, therefore we should stick together."

"Now you're just clutching at straws. Let's just keep the Guardians together in the front, and bloodsuckers in the back. Then we have something in common we can talk about."

"Really? Am I that bad?" Adrian asked in mock hurt.

I heard the engine of the car in front of us start as the girls began to pull away. I waited for the others to notice, but they didn't. I sighed.  
"Listen, we can sort this out later or you can swap seats half way. The girls have already left, get in the car, we need to go." I said; in my best instructors voice that Roza always hated.

They stopped bickering, simultaneously turning to look at the space where the other car just was. In an almost comical way, they all scrambled for the nearest door. Eddie, with his faster reflexes, was able to get into the passenger side, leaving Christian to get reluctantly into the back next to Adrian.  
As soon as they were in, I put my foot down and we were off.

**RPOV**

After I had hugged Adrian and Christian, I saw Dimitri looking at me suspiciously. He had seen me rub the itching powder onto them. I winked at him, and turned away, smiling at the sight of the rapidly growing apprehension in his eyes. I hadn't actually put any itching powder on him, or Eddie, it was more rewarding to let the power of the mind trick itself. In this case, at least. I opened the door and climbed into the car and shut the door, turning to the girls already inside.

"OK, Lissa, Mia, do your thing." The 2 Moroi smiled, and closed their eyes. Mia then turned, and waved her hand out the window. The guys it would look like a goodbye gesture, but we knew better. The rainwater that had been artfully bent around a certain patch of paint on the car slipped off, leaving behind the image of a certain part of the male anatomy, with the words 'I love' in front of it. The white paint we had used was reflective and glow in the dark as well as a total contrast to the black paint of the SUV. This was going to be fun.

As we drove away, I took one last look in the rear-view mirror, just catching Dimitri's eyes as he watched us go, before leaning out the window to yell at the guys for being such douche bags. Well, probably not exactly that, but whatever. Once I heard the car behind us start up, I picked up the in-car radio, and pressed the button.

"So long, sukkas. You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat the Bitchmobile."

_Whatever, Rose. You just remember this confidence you once had when you're admitting your defeat at the campsite._ Christian's voice came through tinny. Yuck.

"You have that wrong, my fiery little friend. We won't be admitting defeat, you'll be _begging_ for it."

We all cackled evilly, before signing off.

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**So there's the first chapter, hope you liked it. Remember, go follow the Weinstein company on twitter if you haven't already. Fangirl army, go! ;D**

**Review and get to road trip with Dimitri :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for yesterday's non-update, I've now replaced that chapter with this one :)**

**What do we all think of the teaser trailer? It looks pretty good to me (as good as 4 seconds **_**can**_** look- come on, full trailer!) but I noticed Rose is definitely stabbing something with a stake. Seeing how she's not even supposed to **_**hold **_**a stake until Frostbite, I'm a little worried. I mean, I don't mind if she learns to use it early, but if she ends up staking Natalie (when she'd not even supposed to be that good yet)... that would ruin the rest of the series, and take all the significance of her Spokane kills away. Plus we wouldn't get Dimitri's cute 'I can't let myself love you' thing :P Add this to the differences that can be seen in the stills... **

**Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine. It trust them to make the right call on these things (mostly) If they change it too bad, they're going to have a psycho fangirl army after them, anyway. Their loss :P **

**Now I've ranted a little, you can finally have the chapter :P **

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead**

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"_You have that wrong, my fiery little friend. We won't be admitting defeat, you'll be begging for it."_

_We all cackled evilly, before signing off._

**DPOV**  
After 5 minutes, it was painfully obvious that the girls had done something to this car. There was an irritating rattle coming from the back somewhere, and 2 of the emergency warning lights were flashing.

I wasn't sure whether or not to be concerned about that one, so I decided to try and contact Rose. I turned on the radio. "Roza... have you done something to the car?"

I heard the other girls giggling. _"Dimitri, I'm shocked you would think that of me."_

"Rose..." I said in what she called my 'mentor voice'. It always made her crack eventually.

"_Well, of course I've done something, but I'm not sure if the thing you're talking about is one of mine."  
_One of hers? Did that mean...

"Flashing warning lights on the dash. Tell me. Now."

"_Ooh, someone's getting grumpy..."_ I heard. I think it was Mia.  
Then I heard Rose sigh. "_OK, that one wasn't me." _There was a pause. "_Tell them there's nothing to worry about."_

A different voice started speaking. "_I just-"_  
"Syd? You did this? I thought you loved me," lamented Adrian.  
She ignored him and carried on. _"-redesigned the wiring. The car will be fine; there are just a few little changes. One being the flashing lights. More will start flashing soon. I've set it so that normal actions of all in-car electronics are turned off, but the safety lights are flipped. So if there is a problem, the light will go off instead. _Another pause._ I have to go now, the beeping is beginning to annoy Mia. Love you, Aids. Bye."_ The radio went to static.

"Aids?" Christian asked, laughing. "Is she trying to tell you something there, mate?"

"Uh, guys? I think we're missing the important part." Eddie stated. "She said that 'more will start flashing soon'. And Rose mentioned that that 'that one wasn't her.' I think we've let ourselves in for a lot more than we bargained for."

"I can agree to that. Rose is up to something, like we predicted. But I think it may be a whole lot worse than we thought." Christian added.

"I may have been her mentor, but she was teaching me from day one. Lesson number one: Never underestimate Rose Hathaway. Lesson 2: Be prepared for anything. Lesson 3: If previous 2 fail, run."

The others nodded. "I'll go with that." Adrian said, scratching the back of his neck. Christian reached up and scratched his head at almost the same time.

"Well, knowing Rose, it won't be long before she discovers our first little piece of evil genius."Christian said with an evil genius grin, before rubbing his head against the seat, whilst scratching his shoulder.

"Is it just me, or is anyone else really itchy?"He asked.

"I am. On my head and neck." Adrian replied.

Eddie turned to look at them. "Did you touch some poison ivy or some other plant like that?" His words got me thinking.

I groaned. "Rose."

"What? I haven't been touching any..." Adrian trailed off. "Aaw shit! Does anyone know a cure for itching powder?

"I have to go now; the beeping is beginning to annoy Mia. Love you, Aids. Bye." Sydney finished, before turning off the radio.

We had the master one, so we had the most control. We could access the boy's one without them picking up the call, but we had to physically answer if we wanted to talk to them. They couldn't keep us out. We also had the ability to listen to them without their knowledge, but we decided to wait until all the flashers were going off, and they were really pissed first, because once we heard their suffering we wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it. We wanted them to experience all our tricks first so we had more to gloat about.

We chatted for a bit about this and that, and listened to music. After about an hour, though, I began to feel hungry.  
"Hey, Mia. Can you pass the bag of food? I'm getting hungry."

Everyone laughed. "When aren't you?" They laughed in unison.

"Whatever. Just gimme the eats." Steering with one hand, I opened up the first bag of food that my hands came into contact with. And found a pile of black stuff at the bottom.  
"What the hell? Someone pass me another one. This is all crappy."

Lissa opened the next bag, and gulped. "Uh, Rose? I don't quite know how to say this but..." She trailed off as Mia and Sydney opened more bags of food.

"OK, I'll say it. That son of a bitch boyfriend of Lissa's has burned all the food to ashes."

"Pyro... Wait!" I swerved dangerously and nearly put the car under an 18-wheeler. All the girls screamed. "Quick! Check the donuts! Now!"

Sydney scrambled for the bag. Surely he wouldn't have done that. Even Christian wouldn't be that evil. Not the donuts I had so painstakingly chosen. Dimitri wouldn't do that to me... He knows I love donuts almost as much as him.

"Rose? I'm sorry..." I looked down at the cardboard box currently being thrust under my nose. All it contained were blackened piles of lumpy goo. I felt a scream building in my throat. I was literally living a nightmare. Once I had woken up from a dream like this, and cried. Before I could free the noise, however, Lissa clapped a hand over my mouth. "Please don't pierce our eardrums, Rose."

"Yeah, we want to hear the sound effects when you're killing Christian." Mia added.

"What even is that stuff?"I choked out, asking no one in particular.

Sydney, of course, answered. "Hydrogenated fats and Carbon deposits." Lovely.

I huffed, and swallowed my rage. Instead of screaming, I calmly said to the girls "Check your handbags, pockets, wherever. He might have only torched the cases. We need to compile our food resources. Survival 101."

Mia cut in. "When did you learn that, Rose? I didn't think you paid attention in class."

"She does when there's food involved." Lissa joked, and I gave them all a death glare, sending them to the depths of their bags to search for sustenance.

3 minutes later we had 2 packets of chewy mints (Mia), a granola bar (Sydney), some starbursts (Lissa), and 2 Yorkies, a Boost and some gummy bears (me).

I quickly ate the chocolate and a couple of starbursts, not bothering to offer any. No one would have wanted the chocolate, it was completely melted. Once I was feeling calmer, I turned the radio on.

"Hello, boys. I hope you've all enjoyed being that gender, because once I'm finished with you, you will all be missing a vital part of your male anatomy." I said in my coldest voice, before reconsidering. "Except for possibly Dimitri, if he can prove to me why he needs it."

_I guess you've found my little surprise then, Rose? Did you like it?_

"Yes, actually. I found the Hydrogenated fat balls particularly tasty. It was like eating a donut, but with less effort involved, because it was all condensed. You should go into retail with that, seriously. It's not like Lissa is going to want you any more once your joystick is missing."  
Silence on the other end. I decided to just leave it, and dropped the joking tone.  
"But seriously, though. Dimitri, if I find out that you had anything to do with this, no sex for a month."

With that, I cut the connection.  
I turned to the girls. "Who's in the mood for singing some women's power ballads?"

**DPOV**  
After Rose's warning, we were all a bit scared. I knew she wouldn't do that to me, but I could see that Christian was honestly worried, though he was trying to hide it. In truth, we were all a bit shaken. It might have been the fact that Roza used 'hydrogenated fats' correctly.

"How about we listen to some music?" Eddie suggested. Until now we had just been talking about guy things like sport and our girls, and what we were planning for when we got to the campground.

"Great idea. But don't let Belikov choose, we'll be catapulted back to the 80s or stuck with some cowboy crap." I just shook my head and rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to get into an argument about music preferences with these clearly clueless individuals.

Eddie pressed the button to turn on the radio, but nothing happened. He pushed some more buttons, but it still wouldn't turn on.

"Ah shit." Adrian said.

"What?" We all asked.

"Didn't you hear what Sydney was saying? None of the electrics inside the car will work. Someone, get your iPod out. We'll listen through that." That wasn't a bad idea, actually. At least, that's what I thought until Christian put his iPod on shuffle.

Some awful song started playing, and I grimaced.

"What the hell, dude? Why do you have High School Musical on there?" Eddie asked in disgust.

"I don't know! Let me change the song. Maybe Liss added it." Christian said, sounding panicked. The next song came on, sung by the same group.

"Wow. And you used to tease Eddie about watching My Little Pony. At least that's good." Adrian told Christian, in mock disbelief.

"Yeah, don't be dissing the ponies. Bronies forever!" Eddie shouted.

Christian, meanwhile, was furiously searching through his playlists. "All my songs are gone. All I have is High School Musical songs. This has Rose written all over it."

"It could have been any of them." I defended.

"No, literally. The playlist is called _Rose,Rose,RosieRules_. The next one is _BadassRoseH_, and the last one is _HotRoseWasHere_."

I laughed in spite of myself. It was just like her. They all looked at me like I was a freak.  
"Dude, you are so whipped. We're stuck here, with no music, and you just laugh, even though it's all your crazy girlfriends fault?" Adrian asked.

I was about to jump to Roza's defence, but Eddie did it for me. "Coming from you, _Aids?_ Sydney was the one who killed the radio in the first place, and made all these flashy lights." Great. I had almost forgotten about all the flashing and beeping until he mentioned it again.

"Well, check everyone else's iPods. She might have missed one, or at least put on some music she thinks is terrible, but is actually okay." Christian suggested

So that's what he did. I have to admit, it was sort of funny going through the playlists she had created. On Adrian's iPod were the playlists; _LittleDhampirRoseWasHere, Lil'DhampirRoseIsLaughingNow and LittleDRoseSezLOL_. The music was all Hannah Montana.

Eddies iPod had; _RoseKicksUrAss, RoseKillsEduardo_ and _EdLovesRose._ On mine, she had named them _TheRussiansRoza, Dimitri&Roza4eva, SmexiiiDimkasRoza_, with Glee music.

We decided to listen to the music on Eddie's iPod, because he seemed to like it. We soon realised that this, however, was Rose's plan. Eddie was singing along terribly to a repetitive 8 minute song that had no meaning, and he was just so loud. Still, at least one of us was happy.

After about an hour of listening to crappy music, Adrian and Christian started complaining about a smell, and, predictably, started blaming each other. After about 5 minutes, Eddie and I started to smell it too. It was terrible, like dead animals, bad eggs and rotten fish. We tried to roll the windows down, but of course they didn't work.

Eventually, we had to think about pulling over, as the smell got too much to bear. We pulled in at the next gas station, and threw the doors open, gasping in the fresh air.

"Shit! What is that smell?" Adrian asked. Christian, however, was already rooting through the piles of cases, looking for the source of it. He had held up the best of us, as true to his earlier words, he had done his best to deflect the smell away using his fire magic.

Once we had breathed enough fresh air to make up for the previous lack of it, we left the doors open and went to help Christian unload the luggage. The deeper we got into the pile, the worse it got. It got to the point we were covering our noses with our sleeves.

Finally we lifted the last case, and the smell tripled in strength. We all recoiled instantly, dropping the bag back down, and I let out a long string of Russian swear words that my mother would not have approved of. I started giving instructions in rapid Russian without realising I did so.

When no one responded, just looked at me blankly, I told them to grab the bag and find out what was under it..

"Uh, Dimitri, we can't understand you. Speak English, please."

I sorted through in my brain what I had just said, and took a moment to translate it. The smell had really hit me bad. I'd lost the ability to translate in my head, and was stuck in my first language.

"Sorry. I couldn't think straight. Someone go get a big stick with a forked end, and the rest of us will lift the bag out. Then the one with the stick picks up whatever is in the trunk."

"Ohh. That's what you were saying. Bags not getting the stick!" Adrian shouted, quickly followed by the others.

"What? I don't want to do it either. It was my plan; I shouldn't have to do it!" I complained, my self control slipping. I took a deep breath, I needed to calm down before I slipped back into Russian again and they wouldn't be able to understand a word I said.

"You have the longest arms. Therefore, you can stand the furthest away. Go get the stick, Cradle Robber." Adrian told me. I did so this time, not wanting to waste any more time here. It was still a race after all. That's when I realised that the girls had probably set this up as a way to slow us down, not just to annoy us.

I came back with the stick, and made the rest of the group stand on either side of me as I poked around in the trunk, not wanting to get too close. I felt the stick meet some resistance, and then break through into something soft. I began to pull it out.  
"Stand back." I warned, and started stepping backwards myself.

The end of the stick emerged, and on the end of it was the ugliest fish I had ever seen. Adrian squealed like a girl as it fell off and flopped onto the ground, cold, dead eye staring straight at him. It was a huge fish, and I didn't have a clue how it could have gotten in there without anyone noticing. I went back in with the stick, sending a green-looking Adrian into the shop to try and find something we could use as an air freshener.

By the time he got back, laid out next to the fish was a half open tin of cat food, and 2 cracked eggs. The bottom of the trunk was covered in slime and bits of eggshell, but Adrian sprayed it with the 3 cans of Lynx he had bought, and we laid a tarp over the top of it.

Still holding our noses, we piled the cases back in the trunk, filled up the car with fuel, and got pulled back out into the road an hour after we turned off.

**RPOV**

It was a serious possibility at this point that we could die of laughter. For the last hour we had been laughing at the boys' shenanigans with Mia's box of tricks via the one-way radio. We had gotten lucky, we hadn't been sure if we could hear them if they left the car, but these were some good quality Guardian radios, and we had heard every word, even Dimitri's random Russian outburst.

We were laughing now because they weren't sure what to do with the fish. They had wrapped it up and put it in the car with them again, as they hadn't wanted to leave it at the gas station. They were planning on dropping it off at the nearest bin, as the one at the station had been recycling only, and Eddie hadn't let them put it in there.

So there we were, driving down the motorway, laughing our asses off, when I heard the sound of a police siren, and looked in the rear-view mirror to see it signalling for us to pull over.

"Ah, shit." I said, which was echoed by everyone else in the car. This was not good.

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**It is exactly 6 months until the film Valentines Day- VA-DAY! Remember, the Blood Sisters trailer is supposed to be out today XD **

**Remember to breathe, and stay away from hard/sharp objects. See you on the other side, people ;D**

**Review and see Dimitri lose control ;) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3 of the crazy road trip! And it gets even better when they actually reach the campsite :D **

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead**

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_So there we were, driving down the motorway, laughing our asses off, when I heard the sound of a police siren, and looked in the rear-view mirror to see it signalling for us to pull over._

"_Ah, shit." I said, which was echoed by everyone else in the car._

"I can use compulsion on them?" Lissa suggested, but I knew she felt bad about it. Plus, she was already using a lot of Spirit to keep us disguised, and I didn't want the darkness to get an even stronger hold on her.

"It's okay, Liss. I can use compulsion of another type." I said, waggling my eyebrows.

As I pulled over onto the nearest hard shoulder, I prepared myself for the coming confrontation, which meant unbuttoning my top 2 buttons on my shirt, re-applying lip gloss and fluffing my hair. I just hoped this cop was a guy.

We were in luck. A young officer walked over to the window, and I rolled it down, unhooking the radio form the dash and flinging it a Mia, who caught it silently. It wouldn't be good for them to see that, it would lead to awkward questions. True, we had a sort-of Alchemist with us, but Sydney really wasn't supposed to be here. I just hoped this guy was single.

"Hello ladies. Where have you..." The cop's eyes widened as he took us in. Let's face it; everyone in the car was really hot.

The cop cleared his throat and continued, his voice a little huskier than before. "Excuse me, Miss, but are you driving under the influence of Narcotics, stimulants or alcohol?"

I batted my eyelashes. "No officer, I don't drink." The less lies I told, the better. I mean, your soul mate's funeral doesn't count, right? "And I'm not on drugs, and coffee is way too, like, unhealthy. I'd get fat if I drank it." Eesh, I sounded like a proper bimbo. I hoped this guy liked that type.

"Of course." It seemed he did. "So, can you explain why your vehicle was not staying in a straight line, and why you were going 8 mph over the speed limit?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realise I was. I was just laughing about something my friends here said. We were talking about my _ex,_"I put extra emphasis on the word. "He cheated on me with this complete slut, and it turns out that she was cheating on him, with 2 other guys as well as her boyfriend at the time. It's like karma, you know? What goes around, _comes_ around." I flashed my man-eater smile. I swear this guy was about to start drooling.

"Well, I'm sorry miss, but I'm going to have to give you a ticket-"

"Oh no, please. I swear, I won't do it again. I mean, it was just one of those moments, when you get carried away. It's just that this guy was such an ass to me, and it seems that guys never actually care about me, and they just try to use me because of what I look like. I bet you're not one of those guys, are you? I bet you respect women as individuals, and like equals. You seem like one of the good guys, which are so hard to find these days." I batted my eyelashes again, and I saw the decision in his eyes.

"You know what? I'm just gonna let it slide this time. But_ only_ this time, understand?" I nodded, wide-eyed.

"Oh, thank you so much." I turned around. "See, I told you girls that there were good guys in the world. They're not all like Adrian." Sydney gave me the evils, and I shrugged slightly. It was the first name that popped into my head. "Or Jesse." I turned back to the cop. He was actually pretty hot, but nothing compared to Dimitri. That gave me an amazing idea."Hey, could I get a picture with you? So I can prove to my other friends that good guys do exist?" I pleaded.

"Uh, sure." He agreed, and Lissa took a picture on her new camera. "Thanks so much. You just brightened up my day. Wait, no. My whole week." I gave him a killer smile.

"My pleasure. Always here to help." He dropped his voice to just above a whisper. "Seriously, you ever need any help, give me a call." He passed a card through the window, and I took it, deliberately brushing his hand. He looked like he might grow wings and fly away. "Thank you for your time, ladies."

"No, thank _you_." I blew him a kiss, and the young cop turned and walked back to his car. As he drove away I gave him a flirty wave, and then pulled back out onto the road myself.

We all burst out laughing again as soon as he was out of sight.

"Rose, that was awesome!" Shouted Mia, looping her arms over my headrest.

"I know, right! And I even got a picture. That's Dimitri's payback for letting Christian burn the donuts. Plus, his number will look nice in my scrapbook."

We drove off down the road, and when we saw the sign for a service station up ahead, Sydney spoke.  
"Can we stop there, please?"

"Yeah, I need to pee, badly," said Mia.

"Yeah, sure. And I can get food." They laughed at me

"Oh, Rose. Always thinking about your stomach." Lissa sighed.

"Hey! Not always. I think about Dimitri quite a lot too. Though that does get me thinking about his family, and his mom's cooking..."

We pulled into the gas station, and went to open the doors. And failed. Not one door opened. I tried throwing all my weight against it, but nothing happened. Oh, shit.

**DPOV**

The only problem was that in our haste to find a gas station, none of us could remember where we had been driving for the last 20 minutes. In the end we gave up and turned on the SatNav, only to discover that all the writing and speaking was in Chinese. So we had to go back to basics, and we searched the car, looking for a map. It should have been in the pocket behind my seat, but it seemed it had been moved.

I checked the pockets in the door, and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper that I passed to Eddie to read.  
_"Dearest Dimitri. I have a feeling that you and the SatNav might not be on speaking terms right now, and I know that as soon as you realised this you would turn to that ridiculously huge map that you insist on taking everywhere. Well, I put it in the glove box."_ Eddie rattled the handle on the handle on the glove box, but nothing happened. It was locked.

"_Stop that, Eddie, it won't work."_

"Psychic much?" Adrian asked rhetorically.

"_It won't be that easy. If you want the map, and the other little treats we have hidden in there, you will have to find the key, using this riddle;  
I look pretty gay, I have a big mouth-"_  
'Adrian!' we simultaneously shouted**  
**"_Usually full of air, but now filled to burst."_

"Still Adrian!" Christian shouted, on his own this time.

"Shut up and let me finish reading!" Eddie shouted back.

"_Take a look, if you've got the balls,  
One thing's for sure, this'll end in LAWLS!"  
Have fun, boys. Dimitri, do NOT drive all the way here without a break. I know you probably can, but you will be really tired and cranky, and so will I, which is never a good mix. I don't want you falling asleep and killing your lovely self. I don't care much about the others. Love you, R x" _Eddie finished reading.

"Charming, so she doesn't care is we die because of Belikov?" Adrian asked, sounding annoyed.

Christian answered. "No, because you don't give her the sex like he does." Everyone else laughed, and I looked down, embarrassed. I still hated anyone talking about that, especially making jokes about it.

"Aaw, Big Bad Guardian's blushing! Christian helpfully pointed out.

"What, Belikov? Does she do things to you that-"

"I've got it!" Eddie suddenly interjected. "Looks pretty gay, big mouth, full of air- it's Adrian's man bag that he never puts anything in!"

"Ooh..." We all breathed in understanding, before making a mad grab for the bag currently between Adrian's feet. Which weren't on the floor like a normal person's, but on the headrest of Eddie's seat.

Christian got to it first, and ripped the zip open.

Several balls of scrunched-up paper fell out of it. Eddie picked one up and straightened it out.  
"'How to keep and idiot amused... turn over to find out.' Seriously, Rose?" Eddie asked incredulously.

We pulled out several more screwed-up pieces of paper and photos, one of which was of Rose wearing her most angelic smile. I knew what that look was. She used it when she had done something particularly 'evil', and wasn't going to tell me what it was. Like hiding my duster or something. With that smile on her face, she could have burned all my westerns and I wouldn't have even cared. The things Roza did to me.

I picked up the photo from where it had been discarded on the floor and stuck it on the mirror, by my licence.

Suddenly hysterical laughter came from Christian.  
"Guys, look at this!" He shoved forward a piece of paper, with a creased photo stuck to it. Adrian tried to grab it back, but was too late. Eddie held it out of his reach so that both he and I could see it. It was a photograph of Adrian in his boxers, and he seemed to be dancing around the room singing into a hairbrush. Eddie and I burst out laughing.

Adrian was complaining from the backseat. "Sydney said she wouldn't show anyone that photo."

I felt the need to defend his girlfriend, mostly because I was sure it was mine that had caused this.  
"To be honest, Adrian, Rose probably did this on her own. This seems much more her style."

Adrian still looked annoyed. "Yeah, and you'd know _all about_ her style." That pissed me off.

"Better than you, yeah. Everyone knows you wanted it, but never got it."

Silence filled the car, before Christian and Eddie started whooping and cheering.  
"Belikov is out to play, everyone! I think he's been negatively influenced by a certain young lady, and I'm liking the feisty side!" Christian shouted.

Eddie snorted. "You have no idea how gay that sounded."

Just then, the intercom crackled, and I heard Roza's voice.  
_Hell yeah he has. Who could live with me all the time and not be influenced? Adrian, watch what you say, or I'm gonna kick your skinny ass when we get there. Dimitri, thanks for fighting for me, babe. _

"I'll fight for you every day of forever, Roza. I love you."

I heard a chorus of 'aaw's over the radio.

_Love you too, Comrade. But be warned, you will be fighting for your life when I get my hands on you. The thing with the doors was really low. Over and out, bitches._

Just then, we saw flashing lights behind us, and a cop car trying to pull us over. I drove into a lay by, and waited as a young blonde cop strode over to us.

**RPOV**

The doors were all locked. We were trapped inside the car after travelling for 8 hours, with no food and only water to drink. Needless to say, we had to get out of that car, _now.  
_"I need the toilet so bad!" whinged Mia, bouncing up and down in her seat. We had done everything we could think of to get the doors open, and even Sydney's car knowledge hadn't been able to free us. She had indentified that the child locks on the doors had been stuck on in a special way, like a manual override, so they couldn't be taken off, unless there was a crash, and other emergency things such as the airbags were activated.

As soon as she said that we were still safe to drive, I knew who the culprit was.  
"That complete bastard! I swear, if we don't get out of here in the next 10 minutes, then he ain't getting sex for a month!" I shouted. "I guess this is what you get for dating a guy who can hotwire any car in 30 seconds. And to think I found it hot at the time." I sighed regretfully.

Sydney bit her lip. "Well, there is one way out. We all turned to look at her, like she had the magical answers to every question in the universe. In truth, she probably had most of them.

"Uh, out the window." She said, and rolled it down to prove her point. I felt like an idiot for not noticing it before.

"Well, you go out first then Sydney, You're smallest, and you wanted to stop here first." Lissa told her, and with a groan, Sydney stood up as much as she could and stuck her head and shoulders out of the window. It was a good thing she was so skinny. She was my height, but otherwise the same build as the Moroi.

Once the top half of her body was out the window Sydney stopped, unsure what to do. We had pulled closer to the grass verge, so that she would have a soft landing, which is why I had no qualms about pushing her butt, and sending her flying out onto the grass.

She fell onto the grass and groaned. "Which evil creature of the night pushed me?" She asked, standing up.

I began to laugh, and she shook her head, anger fading from her face. "Nice to see you care, Rose. I was just wondering, do you spank Dimitri like that?"

Lissa and Mia burst out into hysterical laughter. It was such an un-Sydney like thing to say.  
"Hell yeah. But, he likes it a little harder."

We were all in hysterics, but stopped laughing when Sydney tried the door handle from the outside. The door still wouldn't budge.

"Looks like we're coming out this way too. Who's going next? Mia?" I asked, looking between the 2 Moroi left in the car.

"Uh, Rose, I think you should go next..." Lissa said.

"Why? Mia has been complaining non-stop about how much she needs to pee."

Lissa looked awkward, but Mia just came right out with it. "Rose, you're the biggest out of all of us. You might need more pushing power to get through the window, it's kinda small."

"Ohhh. Meh, there's gotta be some time in life that my curves aren't the most practical. Now is my time, I guess."I climbed out of the driver's seat and into Sydney's vacated seat in the back, before sticking my arms, head and shoulders out the window, wincing as I squeezed my chest through. Sydney was waiting there to catch me, but I waved her off.

Allowing myself to tip forward, I placed my hands on the floor, and slid the rest of my body out, with a little help from Lissa. When only the bottom half of my legs were in the car, I pulled my knees into my chest and straightened my body into a handstand, walking a few steps on my hands before completing the forward roll and ending up on my feet, a few metres away from the car.

I heard giggling behind me, and turned to see Lissa and Mia still in the car, clapping and whooping, and Sydney standing watching me, phone in hand. "You get all of that?"

She nodded. I guessed she had been filming right from the start. Good, I wanted Dimitri to see how we had outsmarted him. Once Lissa and Mia were out, neither having exited the vehicle as smoothly as me, we split up to do what was needed, so we didn't waste any more time than we had to. Mia and Sydney went to the bathrooms, Lissa filled the car up with gas, and I went to get the food.

When Liss and I got back to the car from the bathroom, Sydney and Mia were waiting by the car for us, holding my camera.  
"Let's have some fun with this." Mia said, waving the camera in the air. I immediately caught up to what she was thinking, and loved the idea.

"Nice." I said, and began climbing back through the window. When I was half way in, I turned my head to face Mia and the camera. Making sure that there was the best view of my ass possible, I winked. Mia took the photo, and I climbed the rest of the way in. Mia and Lissa did the same, with me helping to pull them through.  
When it came to Sydney, she passed the camera through before her, and I snapped a pic just as she put her hands down onto the seat, in a way that pushed her cleavage up in a big way. One thing was for sure, Adrian would _love_ this picture.

Once we were all in and settled, we left the gas station, and began to eat. We hadn't wanted to spend that much money yet, so Sydney, of course, had forgone a big meal to buy 2 coffees instead. The rest of us just drank the flavoured water we had brought with us.

Once we had finished eating, we decided to have a quick listen in on the guys. All was fine for a few minutes, until Adrian made a crack about Dimitri and I.  
_"To be honest, Adrian, Rose probably did this on her own. This seems much more her style."_ Dimitri said. He knew me too well.

"_Yeah, and you'd know all about her style."_ Bitch please. He did not just go there.

"_Better than you, yeah. Everyone knows you wanted it, but never got it."_ I was shocked. My Dimitri had made a successful comeback from one of Adrian's jibes, and it had been an awesome one.

"That's my man! Listen, he's all grown up and fighting back. I have trained him well." I pretended to wipe away a tear, and the girls laughed.

"_Belikov is out to play, everyone! I think he's been negatively influenced by a certain young lady, and I'm liking the feisty side!"_ Christian shouted.

Eddie snorted. _"You have no idea how gay that sounded."_

I figured it was time to make my entrance.  
"Hell yeah he has. Who could live with me all the time and not be influenced? Adrian, watch what you say, or I'm gonna kick your ass when we get there. Dimitri, thanks for fighting for me, babe."

"I'll fight for you every day of forever, Roza. I love you."

All the girls 'aawe'd, and I felt a warm glow spread through me. I missed him so much already.  
"Love you too, Comrade. But be warned, you will be fighting for your life when I get my hands on you. The thing with the doors was really low. Over and out, bitches."

I cut the connection that allowed the boys to hear us, but left the other end open so that we could still listen to them.

I could hear a siren from the other end, but instead of passing, it grew louder and louder, until I heard a string of Russian words that weren't complimentary. That's when I realised that the police were after them.

* * *

**Review and get to know Dimitri's 'style' ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I saw a pretty good Dimitri look-alike in town yesterday, which reminded me I needed to update ;) Obviously, I followed him for as long as socially acceptable before it would be classed as stalking ;P **

**Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy. **

* * *

**DPOV**

I couldn't believe that I had been pulled over. As I rolled down my window, I wondered what I had done. I hadn't been speeding or anything.  
"Good evening, officer." I said, polite as ever.

"Evening," he replied formally. I had a feeling that this cop wasn't too bothered about exchanging plesantries. "When was the last time you left this vehicle unattended?"

I thought about it, before answering, "at home, yesterday. We stopped for gas about an hour ago. Why?"

"There is some graffiti on the side of your car that I cannot believe you failed to notice when you stopped for gas. Did you know anything about this?" The cop asked.

"What does it say?" Eddie asked from beside me.

The cop's mouth was set in a thin line. "Well, come and take a look."

We all got out of the car and walked around the side, where in bright pink paint were the words 'Gay Pride' and 'I love cock', surrounded by lots of hearts.  
We stared, wide-eyed, at the writing. How had we missed this?

We got back inside the car as it started to rain, and the cop leaned against the door, elbows resting on the edge of the window.  
"So, did you write this?"

"Hell no!" Adrian shouted, like the fool that he is. "It was probably our girlfriends, doing it as a joke." The cop raised one eyebrow. Adrian backtracked, "well, ex-girlfriend. That's why she did this, her and her friends."

Suddenly, something inside the car caught the officer's attention. Leaning forward, he pointed to the picture of Rose. "Is that her, your ex?" He asked, looking around the car. I felt the rage build inside me, he was checking out a photo of my Roza!  
Wait, no, he wasn't. His eyes narrowed and his lips set in a thin line.

"Yeah, should probably burn that picture." Adrian answered, not realising what the rest of us had; that he was digging his own grave right now.

"Is your name Adrian, by any chance?" The cop asked. What the-?

"Yeah, that'd be me. How'd you know?" Ivashkov grinned lazily. I resisted the urge to smack my forehead, and hide behind my hand. The officer's face went purple.

"Then you're a right prick, you know that? And as unprofessional as it may be, I am so glad that I caught you, and can be the one to issue the punishment. That girl, Rose, just wanted a good guy that she could rely on, and she got stuck with you. You are a jerk." Wow. That was all I could say.

Adrian had finally seemed to realise that something was going on here that went past being an angry cop. Looking into the angry human's eyes, he spoke slowly.  
"You will forget you saw us here. You will forget all about the graffiti on our car, and once you are back in your car, you will have no memory of ever meeting us. Now, go."

His face softened as the compulsion took effect, cheeks returning to normal colour. A dreamy smile took the place of the previous frown. The human nodded once, then walked away. Before he even reached his car, I put my foot down and pulled away as fast as I could.

After a few minutes, I asked the question we had all been thinking. "How the hell did that guy know Rose, and what was all that about with Adrian?"

They just shook their heads, eyes wide.

"She has some 'splainin to do when we see her." Christian said, and we all agreed before lapsing into silence.

I jumped when Adrian suddenly shouted; "I found it!"  
He was holding up a small key, a great smile of triumph on his face. I recognised the key to the glove box, and took it out of his hand, passing it to Eddie, who quickly opened it. Reaching in, he pulled out the map that had clearly been unfolded before being scrunched up in a messy ball. _Roza_. She sure knew how to annoy me.

Eddie pulled out something else, from the glove box, a carton of something. I couldn't see what it was, as the label was covered by a yellow sticky-note that had Roza's untidy scrawl on it.

Eddie read aloud; "Enjoy it whilst it lasts, Vamps. Because this _is_ the last. 'winky face'."

Christian reached forward and grabbed the carton, ripping off the label. It was a box of blood.  
"Oh no. No, no, no." He chanted, panicking. Reaching into the cool bag by his and Adrian's feet, he pulled out a 3-pack of cartons.

"Oh, shit. That bitch!" he shouted, and showed us the packet. It was a pack of Ribena cartons, with a yellow sticky note on it. This one had 2 stick figures on it. One a girl with long hair and a laughing face, pointing at a stickman with a sad face. And fangs.

"Hey, Ribena! Thanks, Rose!" Eddie said, and grabbed a carton.

Adrian looked sadly into the rest of the bag. Obviously the entire supply of blood had been switched. "Hey Pyro, please tell me you torched the girls' blood supply as well." Adrian practically begged.

"Of course I didn't! I only burned the food to get at Rose, not starve Lissa and Mia! Just because Sydney doesn't need it, don't forget that our girls do. This is cruel, even for Rose."

Eddie suddenly groaned. "That's why she did this, not the normal food. This way, it would piss you off, and potentially slow us down, without affecting Dimitri. She's clever." He said, his voice filled with resigned understanding and a grudging respect for Rose's plan.

Silence descended over us again, matching the darkness falling outside. We were on a human schedule for the next week, as we could stay together at night for safety, and we had additional Guardians for backup at night that wouldn't get in the way of whatever Lissa had planned.

"I'm going to stop at the next service station and get some coffee for me. Then you can try and get some sleep, especially Adrian and Christian. You'll be weaker without blood, so conserve your energy as much as you can. You won't get blood until we reach the camp ground and the girls arrive. I'm guessing Rose took the blood in their car, she isn't that cruel to have left it at home."

"Wanna bet?" Christian asked, and I glared at him in the mirror. He shut up, and I pulled into the gas station, and everyone got out to stretch their legs and use the facilities.

After that we got back on the road, and everyone else was asleep within minutes. After five minutes of driving in silence, the radio crackled, followed by a voice.  
_"Hey, Comrade. Everyone else out for the night?"_

**RPOV**

I didn't know if we were physically capable of stopping the hysterical laughter that had been shaking our bodies for the last 10 minutes. Dimitri had been pulled over, and it had been by _my_ cop. I was so glad that I had chosen to get the picture with him. I couldn't wait to explain to them what had happened and show the proof. They were so clueless.

When we eventually calmed down, an additional 5 minutes later, we didn't have long before heard Christian discover the Ribena/blood switch. Lissa and Sydney were pissed at first, saying how would I feel if it was Dimitri without food. But when they heard what Pyro said about trying to starve me and piss me off, and how Adrian wanted to cut Lissa and Mia's blood supply, that chastisement changed to congratulation. We had just finished our second round of hysterics, triggered by Eddie's reaction to Ribena, when I noticed how tired they all looked.  
"OK girls, time to sleep."

"But aren't you tired?" Sydney asked.

I shook my head, though that was not entirely true. I wasn't tired exactly, but I _did _want to lie down and sleep. "I have the best of both your species, remember? Plus I'm a Guardian who was trained by Dimitri, I am impervious to fatigue. You would not believe the time that man forced me to get up at every morning." I said, smiling.

"Oh, you loved it really. Just you and him, out training, the two of you against the world, it was what you lived for, and don't try and deny it." Lissa sighed sadly. I knew she had been really hurt that I had not told her one of the greatest secrets of my life.

"Yeah, OK, I did. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have liked the odd lie-in." I quipped, before continuing, "speaking of, or lack of, you really need to sleep now. Night everyone." Whilst we had been talking, they had been getting ready for sleep as best they could in the car- passing round pillows, reclining seats, and covering up in blankets and fleeces.

A chorus of 'goodnight's echoes around the car, before it fell silent. I had turned the volume on the radio right down so that I could just hear the buzz of low voices, but that had stopped completely now as well. I guessed this meant that the boys were also asleep. Adrian would still be talking otherwise.

I waited until all of the girls' breathing had evened out, before turning up the radio volume slightly, and speaking softly.

"Hey, Comrade. Everyone else out for the night?" I asked

A few seconds later, I got a reply.  
_"Yes, Roza. Same with your lot?"_

"Yeah. Out like lights."  
I suddenly felt incredibly lonely, surrounded by my unconscious best friends, and wished that Dimitri was here. Even in bed, on the rare occasions that he fell asleep before me, I didn't feel like this. I still felt complete.

"I miss you." We both said at exactly the same time. We laughed, and I let him speak.

"_I hate being apart from you, especially when everyone else is sleeping. I hate not knowing where you are, if you're safe."_ I smiled at his attempt to get info out of me.

"Well, you know I'm safe, because I'm talking to you right now. As for where we are, I can assure you that we are on the right road, and will be at the campsite on time." _And ahead of you_ I added in my head. Whilst eavesdropping on the guys, I had heard that we were about 40 miles ahead of them.

He laughed. "_Good, because I want to see you as soon as possible."_

"I bet you do. How are you getting along with the guys?" I asked. "Being in a confined space with them for this long would have driven me crazy by now."

"_I live with you, I've had practice."_

I gasped in mock hurt. "Dimitri, how can you say that? What about me, having to cope with a wannabe cowboy?"

"_Well, the only thing remotely cowboy about me right now is the duster. I can't even listen to music, as someone very kindly updated my playlist."_

I laughed outright. "Okay, so that was a little mean. Maybe this will make you feel better. On the playlist Dimitri&Roza4eva, the first 4 songs are total crap. The next 10 after that are the top 10 most played from your old music. I'm not a total bitch, though some people seem to think I am."

"_No, you're not. You can be sweet, kind and compassionate, even towards people who don't deserve it. That's why I love you." _He said sincerely.

"I love you too, Dimitri. But you better not be putting yourself into that category of 'people who don't deserve it', because that would make you one of those people who doubts themselves and is way too modest, and then I'd have to hit you, and ruin your perfect face."

"_Sorry, Roza. Please don't hit me. I'll make it up to you, promise."_  
I giggled. I was glad the girls weren't awake to hear that. Dimitri was the only one who made me actually _giggle,_ and I had a reputation to uphold, which giggling wasn't a part of.

We talked for ages, about noting in particular. Funny stories we'd heard, our time back at the academy, what we'd do over the next week. It didn't really matter what he was saying, I was content to just have this easy conversation, and to listen to his voice. We hadn't seen each other much over the last week; Lissa, so naturally me as well, had been preparing for her time away, so had been really busy.

After about 2 hours, we fell into a comfortable silence, like we would have if he were actually here. We didn't need to talk all the time, it was enough just to know that the other was there if we wanted to say something. Leaving the connection open, I put some music on.

Several hours later, just as the sun was beginning to rise, Dimitri and I started talking again. Mid sentence, he suddenly cut off; I heard a different voice through the radio. It was Eddie.  
_"Hey, man. How you doing?" _Eddie asked Dimitri.

"_I'm fine. Not even tired." _He replied.

There was silence for a few moments. _"You seem happy for someone that's been up driving all night without even any music,"_ Eddie said suspiciously. There was a pause before he continued. "_You've spoken to Rose, haven't you." _He stated accusingly. "_Yeah, I can tell. Don't worry, though. I won't tell the others you've broken the pact."_

They must have all promised not to secretly call their girlfriends. We hadn't done that, we had just agreed that if you spoke to them, you had to mess with them too.

"_Sorry. I miss her like crazy, and she wanted to talk to me. Who am I to deny her that? I'll never deny her anything that she wants if it is within my power to give it to her."_

Aawww. Eddie laughed, before continuing, _"I'm glad that she found you, Dimitri. I always worried that she'd end up with some Moroi jackass that would just use her, like other Dhampir girls. She's like my sister, you know? When Jesse was talking all that shit about her, I almost killed him, and Mason wanted to help. We'd secretly make sure that she was okay with whatever guy she was with, and if he didn't make the cut, we have... words, with him. But you're good for Rose; I doubt she'd ever find anyone better for her. I know Mase would have felt the same. Above everything, he wanted her to be happy. I mean, just being around the two of you makes me want to brush my teeth it's so sweet. I've never seen Rose this happy before, and she needs that after what she'd been through. So, from Mase and I, thank you."_

For a moment I was shocked, but then I was overcome by a warm rush of affection for Eddie. He was my brother as much as if he had been Abe and Janine's son too. Before Mason had been killed, they had both been my closest friends aside from Lissa. But since then, Eddie had really become family to me.

After a few seconds, Dimitri spoke._"No, thank you, Eddie. Not many guys would be happy with their sister dating her older mentor, so thanks for giving me a chance. Roza is lucky to have you as a brother, I just hope I am as good a brother to my own sisters. I probably wouldn't even be here now if it wasn't for you, that was a great thing you did for her."_

"_Hey, anything for Rose. Anyway, I didn't do too bad out of it. I gained a new friend."_

"_As did I."_

I heard what sounded like a manly slap on the shoulder, which signalled the end of the guys' little heart to heart. I was so happy that my almost-brother and my boyfriend (who, let's face it, was his old teacher), were getting along so well. I just wished Mason were here to see it too.

Lissa stirring beside me pulled me out of my sad thoughts.  
"Hey, Liss. Good sleep?"

She stretched, and groaned as her back clicked. "Not the best, but not the worst either. I miss Christian so much, though I guess you're the same."

It was too good an opportunity to pass up. "Yeah, I miss Pyro so much, without his poor excuse for wit I feel like a light is missing from my world, like someone stole the sun or something."

She gave me a withering look. "You know what I mean."

I sighed. "Yeah, I miss Dimitri. But sometimes we're apart for this long back at Court, and it doesn't feel so bad. Though I guess that's because this is by choice, and I don't have anything to take my mind off it."

"Aaw, Rose! I love seeing you in love!" Lissa said, reaching across the gearstick to give me a half-hug.

"Yeah, yeah, it's nice and all, but not when it wakes me up!" croaked Sydney angrily from the backseat.

Yeah, Sydney wasn't all that into mornings when she woke up after sleeping upright in a car and had only drunk 2 cups of coffee in just under 24 hours. Mia was still asleep, snoring.

"Sorry, Sydney. We'll stop at the next gas station and get you a latte to make up for it, yeah?"

"Better make it two," she mumbled, before closing her eyes again.

**DPOV**

I was happy that Eddie had taken the time to tell me that he approved of me. I knew Roza loved him like a brother, and I knew he was a good guy. He was a good friend of mine now, despite being the youngest, he was the most mature out of the friends I had inherited from Roza, Adrian being the baby of the group, despite being the oldest of the 3.  
Yes, I even classed him as a friend now. I had said before he was a good guy, and it was easier to get along with him when one of us didn't want what the other one had. With Sydney, he was different than he had been with Roza. He still flirted with her all the time, and teased her, but Sydney could banter back and it didn't seem like they were constantly at each other's throats.  
It was a relationship that had been built on trust, not lust, like Adrian's feelings for Roza had originated.

I knew the feeling, as that was how I had felt when I had met Roza, like how she understood me better than anyone else and saw right through the shell I had put up, just as I saw through the image others cast over her, and saw the truth about Rose underneath. Though of course, there had been plenty of lust, too.

Christian woke up next, dark circles under his eyes after 30 hours without blood. He didn't look weak, exactly, but maybe a little paler than usual, and his snarky comments were less.

Eddie noticed this too.  
"Christian, maybe you should have that carton of blood now, before Adrian wakes up."

"Nah." He said, waving the comment away. "I'm saving it for just before we get there, it'll be like drinking 3 cans of red bull after a long night. It'll make me look better for just long enough to get to the blood that'll be there. Plus, Pretty Boy might spray his man-perfume in my eyes if I drink his share, and I won't be able to see Lissa properly, which would suck."

Adrian began to stir half way through Christian's speech, worryingly close to when Christian said 'Pretty Boy'. "Sydney? Did you say my name, babe?"

He groped Christian. "What the-" His eyes flew open and he looked at where one hand was gripping Christian's, and the other was resting on his inner thigh. He jerked back, apologising. We were all laughing so hard, I nearly missed the turning.

When Eddie got his breathing under control, he said; "If that's what girls wake up to every morning, no wonder you had so many one night stands. The night was great, but you groping them in the morning made them run for cover! This is why Sydney always gets up so early!"

Adrian huffed. "She gets up first so she can make the coffee. In fact, just the other day she was saying how much she loved waking up with me beside her." He said defensively.

"Yeah, beside her, not on top of her!" Christian snapped. "Get off." He pushed Adrian away from him.

Lack of blood apparently made his already short fuse practically non-existent. Thanks, Roza.

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**So, who do you think will get to the campsite first? The Bitchmobile or the Man-Van? :P **

**Review and have a night-time chat with Dimitri :D **


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, before we go on with the chapter, I just want to remind everyone that there's a Battleship competition being hosted on Hypable right now, where the favourite couple out of RoseXDimitri and BellaXEdward is being voted for. If we want our badass couple to win, we'll all have to vote to kick the opposition's sparkly asses. No way can R&D lose to those twinkletoes! The link is (take out the spaces and pretend the commas are dots, kay? :P) ****www,hypable,com/2013/08/30hypables-battleships-boo ks-the-final-battle/**

**The poll will end really soon, so if you want to vote, go do it now! If Rose and Dimitri win, I'll post the next chapter TOMORROW :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy**

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**RPOV**

Once the rest of the girls were out of the car, I pushed a couple of random suitcases out after them that I had managed to haul out of the boot and into the car, over the back seats. I climbed out after them, once again using the handstand technique, and stayed with the cases whilst Sydney and Mia went off to the toilets and the shop.

We switched, and when Lissa and I got back to the car, we opened the cases, intending to change the clothes we had been wearing for over 24 hours.

You can imagine our surprise when the cases we expected to be filled with comfy travelling clothes were filled entirely with lingerie and condoms. We stood looking at the case with wide eyes, and a couple of guys passed us on the way back to their truck.

"Hey, you want some help making use of them?" One of the idiots called.

I jumped up to attack them, but Lissa pulled me back. Instead, I just shouted over to them; "Actually, the condoms belong to my boyfriend, and somehow I think XL will be a little too big to fit your chodes."

The guys shuffled off, and the girls giggled. I winked, before turning back to the disaster in front of us. I had a feeling I knew whose idea this was. I threw a packet at Sydney, and asked; "Do you recognise these? The underwear was definitely Adrian, who else could afford it, but I want to know if anyone else was involved."

Sydney was blushing like crazy. "I'm not sure." She said. Of course not. I looked at Lissa.

"No, they're not Christian's." I nodded, then looked to Mia.

"Yeah, these could be Eddie's." She said. Everyone turned to me.

"What, you honestly think that these are Dimitri's? Mr. Blush at the mention of sex?" They laughed. "Two Dhampirs, remember? No need for them." I said, throwing one back into the case. "Anyway, these would be way too small."

Sydney choked on her coffee, and Lissa patted her back to help her to breathe again, whilst Mia howled with laughter. "So the big guy's a 'big guy', then!" she said, and I started to laugh.

"Well, duh. Have you seen the size of his hands? I wasn't kidding when I was talking to those jerks."

Everyone laughed this time, before falling silent and surveying the lingerie again.  
"Well, I have an idea. Adrian put this in here thinking that we would get pissed off and stays in our old clothes, otherwise he wouldn't have bought Sydney this." I said, lifting out a white and gold bra set.

They all looked at me, confused. "Well come on, does he really want his girlfriend driving down the road in just this and... " I rummaged through the case until I found a lacy nightie. It seemed he had gone for the full set. "...This? Where anyone could see her? I think not. So, I say we call his bluff." Mia caught my drift and smiled evilly, before digging into the case and pulling out a royal blue chiffon one-piece in her size.

Understanding dawned on Lissa and Sydney's faces. They looked apprehensive for a moment, Sydney considerably more so, before looking at Mia and I, then back at the case. They came to a decision, and started pulling apart the pile of underwear searching for something to change into, and I did the same.

10 minutes later we walked out of the bathrooms, our hoodies pulled down as close as they would go to our knees. Once we were back in the car, we let go, leaving our bare legs on show. Lissa had managed to find a purple 2 piece, and was wearing a long chiffon jacket thing over the top. Sydney was wearing the most modest thing she had been able to find- a white tank-top two piece with a little frilly skirt. I had on a red corset one-piece that was a size too small, obviously having been bought with one of the other girls in mind. I just hoped we didn't get pulled over by another cop.

Mia stroked the cream lace of the strap of her new bra appreciatively.  
"I gotta say, Sydney. Your boyfriend has good taste. There must have been $1000 new-line Victoria's Secret in there."

And we had taken all of the tags off, just in case Adrian had any ideas about taking it back to the shop. Tough luck, these were _ours_ now.

We chatted happily for 3 hours, listening to music and laughing, until the SatNav informed me that we had 100 miles left to go. I decided to check in on the guys.

**DPOV**

We were stuck in traffic. It had been 3 hours since everyone had woken up and I was on my 3rd coffee.  
"Slow down the caffeine consumption, Belikov. You'll turn into Sydney in a minute." Adrian quipped.

I was tired, and cranky. He should have known better than to irritate me after 40 minutes in a queue and having only moved 2 miles.  
"What, are you going to try and get it on with me like you did to Christian earlier?" I shot back. Eddie laughed, and Christian congratulated me on the comeback.

"Being around Rose so much is definitely rubbing off on you, Dimitri. But somehow, it's less annoying on you. Keep it up." He said.

Another mile down the road, we passed the scene of the accident that had slowed us down. It didn't look too bad, but as we passed I couldn't help but think of Roza, aged 13, dying in an accident so much worse than this one. I forgot, sometimes, that she had actually died, twice. What with not being Shadow Kissed any more, it was easy to forget.

I couldn't imagine a world without her in it, couldn't see the point of that world. Mine revolved around her.

**RPOV**

Nothing much interesting was going on with our significant others, so we got bored and zoned out. What we had been able to piece together was that they had been a little ways ahead of us, but had been stuck in traffic for nearly an hour, so we were now ahead of them. From eavesdropping, I had been able to bypass the problem, and we were less than an hour away from the campground now.

I suggested we have pre-victory sing-along, to get in the spirit of the campfire and keep me awake.

Whatever the other girls had planned for tonight when they (probably) saw their boyfriends again, but my fantasy right now involved curling up in Dimitri's arms and falling into a dark, blissful sleep.

**DPOV**

We had finally cleared the traffic, and I pushing the speed limit just a little bit. Adrian was getting antsy.  
"Dude, slow down. We'll never get there if you kill us all!"

Eddie sighed. "The speed limits are what is safe for humans to drive at. We have faster reflexes, better eyesight and more control. We'll be fine."

Christian added, "Plus, you're in the safest place in the car, like where Lissa was sat that time. If we die, you can just bring us back like she did."

Adrian smirked. "It seems like you have a burning desire to be inside my mind, now why would that be? To understand my fabulous wit, my charm with the ladies and just my general magnetism."

Christian scoffed. "I'd hate to be inside your mind. It would be too dirty and cramped, pea-brain."

Just then, I saw a sign to the small town near Ann Arbour that was closest to Peaceful Pines campsite.

Memories stirred inside me, and I recalled driving here with Roza. We passed the 24-hour supermarket, and I smiled as I remembered her reactions to the things I had bought; her repulsion to the tent, her happiness that I had remembered her favourite snacks, annoyance to how I hadn't bought any clothes, before teasing me about my duster.

It surprised me that she actually wanted to come camping now. I guess it was because this is a better time of year, all her friends were here, and we didn't have to sleep in the same tent as each other whilst trying to deny our feelings for each other.

I hadn't told her this yet, but that night when I woke up in her arms, I had been dreaming of her. Not that I didn't nearly every night, but this had been slightly different. It had been about when Lissa restored me, and instead of pushing her away, I had run unto her arms...

_I opened my eyes, and __felt_._ I was sore, I was tired, and felt a great sadness deep within me. I saw Lissa's face hovering over mine, and I remembered. The hate, the venom, the desire to kill her-but it was all gone now. Feeling washed over me- guilt, sadness, regret, pain, anger, and it felt as though I might drown. I looked at my hands and knew what had happened, that I had somehow been changed back. I felt tears come to my eyes, the first time in many years. I thought that I would break under the pressure of these emotions that had been kept from me for so long. Lissa's face disappeared from my sight, and I closed my eyes again, battling against the tide that threatened to drown me. _

"_Dimitri?" My eyes snapped open again, and I lifted my head. In front of me stood an angel. I forced myself onto my knees, and then slowly stood up. Roza stood in front of me, a few steps away. She was biting her lip, a rare sign of nervousness for her. I felt disgusted with myself that I had brought her to this, that she was actually afraid and repulsed by me. I looked at the ground, but in the same way had never been able to look away from her for too long, I looked back into her eyes. What I saw there made my newly beating heart beat faster. She was not scared of me, but for me. _

"_Roza?" I asked, uncertain, taking a step forward. After a second's pause, she flew at me, and I wrapped my arms around her waist as hers fastened around my neck. _

"_Dimitri." She breathed. As the old electricity coursed between us my knees buckled, and she helped me to the ground. She knelt next to me whilst I rested my head against her shoulder and cried. She rubbed my back soothingly and whispered softy to me. When my sobs had subsided, I pulled back and straightened up, so I was kneeling in front of her. _

"_Thank you, Roza. And you, Princess." I said, looking away from Roza for just a second. I turned back, and raised a hand to Roza's face, staring in wonder at the tanned skin next to hers.  
"You should have killed me on that bridge, Roza. I wanted you to kill me. Just after you staked me, I was me again, just for a moment, and I tried to tell you that I loved you, but then I fell..." I used my thumb to wipe away a tear that was slipping down her cheek.  
"I'm sorry, Roza. But I'm here now and I swear I'll never leave you again. I know I broke my promise, but I love you so much, please forgive me." I begged. She gave me a watery smile. _

"_Of course I forgive you, Dimitri. I love you so much. You didn't break your promise. You swore you would never let anything hurt me, and you didn't. Even as a Strigoi you never physically hurt me. I broke my promise to keep you safe when I left you in the cave. My mom and Alberta held me back, but I should have tried harder to save you."_

"_You did save me." I whispered, and kissed her, just before waking up. _

"Uh, Dimitri? You in there?" Eddie asked, pulling me out of my daydream.

"Yeah, sorry. What is it?"

"How long until we get there?"

I looked around; trying to remember where we were from the last time I had been here.  
"About 10 minutes, I think. Get your stuff together; we want to look as settled as possible for when the girls arrive." I instructed, and the others started shoving things into their backpacks and putting rubbish into discarded coffee cups. _Not long now..._

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**I really wanted to write a restoration alternative, but it was too short to be a story of its own, so I thought I'd put it in here, and it kind of works :) **

**Remember, vote for Rose and Dimitri and if they win I'll update tomorrow :) Peace out! **

**Review and Dimitri will daydream about you ;) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, the VA fandom is officially the loudest book fandom out there! Well, with Rose to follow, how could we be anything else? Rose and Dimitri for the win!  
This chapter is the prize to our #VAfamily for being so awesome ^.^**

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**RPOV**

"Look! There it is!" Lissa screeched, pointing out the window to a sign that read; _**Peaceful Pines**._

We all whooped loudly as we drove under the wooden sign that hung over the entrance, but quieted down as we drove up to the little hut with the window in the side where we would check in.

"Hello there." The middle aged man behind the desk greeted us.

"Hey. We have a reservation for the 4 pitches next to each other under Belikov."

The man nodded, and checked his book. He looked back at us, frowning. "I'm sorry, but we don't seem to have a record of you."

"But I swear Dimitri... oh hell no."

"What?" Lissa asked."

"They're still screwing with us. They must have checked in under a different name so we wouldn't be able to get in."

"Them bitches!" Mia shouted.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with this." Lissa said, and leaned over me to get closer to the man in the hut.

"Tell me the name that the big site is booked under." She said a calm voice.

"I'm sorry, but-" He blinked, and his eyes glazed over as the compulsion set in. "Edison. Victor Edison." Nice- Victor, as in winning. So this was Eddie's doing.

Lissa continued. "Change the name to Victoire Hathaway." The man did. "Now forget this entire conversation, and that the name was ever Victor Edison, and when somebody asks if we're here yet, say no." As she released the compulsion, the man's gaze came back into focus.

"Hello there."

"Hey. We have a booking under Victoire Hathaway?" I asked.

The man smiled.

We got the site number and little information leaflet and drove down to the pitch. It was secluded from the rest, which is why we had paid extra to be here. There were 4 adjoining pitches, so this area was often used for large groups, which is why it was in a clearing in the middle of a load of pine trees, no doubt to muffle noise coming from here. Or in our case, to hide that we weren't human. Excluding Sydney, of course.

We had already decided that we couldn't be bothered to put up the tent, what was the point when Dimitri could put it up in 3 minutes flat? So instead Sydney and Mia climbed out through the window, and we slowly passed out all our cases through the window, followed by deck chairs, and finally Lissa and I.

We set the chairs out and sat down, pulling drinks out of a cool box, and waited for the guys to arrive.

**DPOV**

We pulled up at the desk of the campground just as the sun was beginning to set. I rolled down the window to speak to the man who looked about ready to fall asleep behind the desk.

"Hello?"

He jumped, startled, and leaned forward."Yes? How can I help you?"

"We have a reservation under Edison."

The human checked his book, and then looked back at us. "I'm sorry; I don't seem to have it here. What pitch was it?"

"It was the-" I was cut off by Adrian sticking his head through the gap between the front seats.

"Listen to me. Tell me if this girl has come through here already." Adrian held up the photo of Rose.

The human shook his head. We all sighed in relief at knowing the girls weren't here yet. Adrian turned his voice down a notch, but kept the compulsion going."What name do you have for the Pine Pitch?" Adrian asked.

The human checked the book again, and answered, "Victoire Hathaway."

Inside the car, we all looked at each other in a panic. It had to be Roza, using our own 'Victor' joke against us.

"That's us, let us in and forget anything unusual about this." Adrian instructed, and as soon as the barrier went up I drove down the pitch, whilst Adrian and Christian shared the carton of blood that they had been saving. As we drove through the small opening in the trees and jumped out of the car once I had parked, we stopped at the edge of the forest.

In front of us, the girls were sitting in deck chairs, drinks in hand, surrounded by cases. And wearing only what seemed to be their underwear.

**RPOV**

We all heard a car quickly, and turned to look at each other.  
"This is it." I said. "Get ready."

I heard the engine cut off and a car door slam, followed by footsteps. A few seconds later, Dimitri stepped into view, followed by the other guys. Their eyes bugged out of their heads when they saw us, and we all uncrossed our legs and stood up in synchronisation.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I said. To my surprise, Adrian actually did. Oh, well.

"What the hell Liss?" Christian asked. I answered for her.

"Well, this morning we were going to change our clothes, when we discovered that by some miracle, our crappy travelling clothes had been replaced by an entire catalogue sample of Victoria's Secret. Who were we to ignore magic like that, so we decided to make the most of it, lest they disappear forever."

The look on Eddie's face made it seem like he very much wanted that to happen.

"How did you beat us here?" Christian asked incredulously.

Lissa answered. "Can we just tell you the whole thing tomorrow? I'm really tired and you look like you could do with a rest, no offence."

Remembering the Moroi guy's lack of blood, I threw both of them a few cartons from the cooler.  
"Knock yourselves out whilst Dimitri puts the tents up. Then we can all go to sleep." I turned to see Mia and Eddie practically eating each other's faces off. "And I mean sleep. I don't want to hear any pillow talk tonight, yeah?"

Lissa and Christian laughed. "That's rich, coming from you." He said. "You and Dimitri are terrible. I swear, one day that headboard's going to come right through the wall." I laughed as well, no point in denying the truth. Dimitri was blushing like crazy, and started working even faster on the tents.

"Well, not tonight. We've both been driving for 36 hours, cut us a bit of slack."

"Good." Lissa said. "We might actually get a good night's sleep for once."

"Yeah, for once. And enjoy the peace and quiet whilst it lasts, because tomorrow night we'll be making up for lost time." I said with a wink.

"Lovely. Just what every mother wants to hear."

Everyone else got an 'ohhh shit' look on their face, but I didn't care.

"Hey, mom. Did you just get here?" I asked, giving her a hug. I was really glad I had put some other clothes over the top of Adrian's lingerie.

"No, we've been scouting the area, and Abe was helping put up the wards. He said he didn't trust anyone else to protect you, and he added something extra to them with his fire power." She giggled. Actually giggled. What was it with Hathaway women around that one guy? We turned to mush.

"Oh, dear. You make a crack at me earlier, but now you are literally talking about my father's 'firepower'. Kill me now."

I heard footsteps behind me, and spun around to find myself in Dimitri's arms.  
"The tents are finished. Ours is the one on the far right." We had 4 of those huge tunnel-shaped tents- each had 2 sleeping compartments and a living space. Lissa and Christian and Dimitri and I were sharing one, Sydney, Adrian, Mia and Eddie another, my mom and Abe and Alberta and her Guardian partner/secret boyfriend (sound familiar?) would share the 3rd tent. The fourth tent had been opened up into one big living space that we would stay in during the day, with all the food and stuff in it. Obviously where I would be spending a lot of time.

"Hello, Janine." Dimitri greeted my mom.

"Hello, Dimitri." She greeted him back, and they stood kinda awkwardly. She still didn't really know what to say to him, or people in general. Abe was another story.

"Belikov! How nice to see you." He said, shaking his hand and pulling Dimitri into one of those half-hug guy things where they slapped each other's shoulders. I never understood them. Just shake hands or hug, make your mind up. Men.

"Abe." Dimitri greeted him. He turned back to me. "Are we going? You must be tired, you were up all night."

I smiled and bumped my shoulder with his. "So were you. But come on, let's go to bed then." I conceded, taking his hand and pulling him towards the tent. I heard Abe shout after us.

"Keep it down remember, there are certain things I don't want to hear." I caught the double entendre of 'keep it down'.

I shouted back over my shoulder. "Same goes for you, Old Man. I know all about your 'firepower'." I heard him laugh just before we stepped into the tent.

5 minutes later Dimitri and I were just settling down for bed. Then a problem arose. We were both in our sleeping bags, and I tried to wiggle closer to him. If we pulled our arms out of the sleeping bags too hold each other, they got cold, but our bodies were pressed close and were covered in thick fabric, making us too warm.

"Whoever invented sleeping bags must have been a right dick, and probably slept alone for the most part of his life." I grumbled.

Dimitri thought for a moment, before getting out of his sleeping bag and unzipping it. I did the same with mine, and he zipped them together to make a big puffy blanket. We lay back down and he threw the blanket over us. I pressed close against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"See, I knew there was a reason I chose you over all the guys in the world I could have had. You have epic camping skills."

He chuckled quietly. "No other reason?" He asked.

I thought for a minute, then replied; "No. No other reason I can think of right now."

"Then let me remind you." He said, tilting my head up and bringing his lips to mine.

When we broke apart, I breathed, "Now I remember. Thanks for reminding me." He was smiling, and not from something I said "What? What are you thinking about?"

His small smile became a breathtaking full one. Even after just 2 days apart, he took my breath away. Actually, he had that effect on me all the time.  
"I was just thinking about the last time we were here, and about how much I wanted to do just that. When I woke up in your arms, I so desperately wanted to tell you how I felt, but couldn't, because of Adrian. But you know, if Sonya hadn't come in right at that moment, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself, and we might never have made it to Jill on time. Now, I'm thinking that maybe everything happened for a reason, because now everything is literally perfect, like it was pre-planned."

"I know the feeling. And just so you know, I wanted you to kiss me, too. So much. When I fell asleep holding your hand the night before, even on the hard ground I slept better than I had in months. I can't believe I ever thought I could begin to get over you. It was utter madness, and I knew it at the time, too. I was just too stubborn to admit it to myself. Truth is, I've been crazy in love with you since the beginning, and lust charm or not, there wasn't anything in this world that would have stopped me from having my way with you eventually."

"I agree. All jokes aside, when it comes to you, my self control cracks beyond repair. You were the only one to ever see that, and the only one to threaten it. Once I realised that, well, there was no going back. As you said, you're the only one that truly _gets_ me."

I smiled up at him, but a yawn totally ruined the moment.

"Sleep, my beautiful Roza. I love you."

"I love you too, Dimitri."  
I rested my head on his chest, and felt him kiss the top of my head.

The last thing I felt were his fingers running through my hair, and the last thing I heard was his heartbeat lulling me to sleep.

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**So, y'all were right about who would reach the campsite first. Power to the Bitchmobile! **

**Review and spend night in a tent with Dimitri ;) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, it was my first week at a new college and I've either been doing homework or sleeping, since I have to get up at such a torturous hour -_- I'd rather be writing, believe me. I can't believe they block this site at my college- how annoying is that!?  
This is an extra long chapter to make up for the wait. Hope you enjoy it :) **

**Disclaimer: VA is not mine. **

**Anyway, readers of Next Generation, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it. I just haven't got the next couple of chapters written in advance like I usually do, and I've been too busy to write more. But now I know what I want to write and hopefully you'll get the next chapter by the end of the week. After that, I've got the next 5 already written so you won't have to wait as long for updates. Just hang in there- it'll be worth it :) **

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When I woke up the next morning, I was alone. I could hear laughter outside the tent, so I pulled my hoodie on and stepped into the cold morning air.

There was a little campfire going already that breakfast somehow seemed to be cooking on. Dimitri looked up and smiled as walked over to the circle. He looked sexy as ever in a tight black t-shirt and jeans.

"Good morning, Roza."

"It certainly is, Comrade. Do I smell bacon?" Everyone laughed.

"I swear Rose, over the years the Academy's kitchens must have cooked so much food for you it could have sustained a family of 4 for life!"

I turned to see Alberta sitting next to mom with her Guarding partner/lover on her other side, with an arm wrapped around her.  
"Oh hey, Alberta, James. Great to see forbidden Guardian romance still going strong. That's what I like to see." I paused for a moment, pretending to be deep in thought. "What is it with Guardian teachers from St. Vlads? And you used to punish me for breaking rules." I shook my head and tutted. "Not that I'm complaining." I kissed Dimitri's cheek and grinned, whilst he, Alberta and James laughed. My mom looked kinda pissed.

"We are an unusual lot, aren't we?" Lissa looked around fondly.

"We're normal." My mom said, indicating herself and Abe.

Lissa shook her head. "Not really, since you got back together."

Christian still didn't look convinced.  
"Sorry, but when two people get together and end up making Rose Hathaway, the parents could _not_ have been normal. Just saying." I burst out laughing.

"Queen Seducing Outcast has a point, mom. Scientifically, you're at least half the freak I am."

Everyone laughed, just as Eddie and Mia came out of their tent. Her hair was a mess, and not only in a 'just woken up' way.

"I was wondering where you 2 were, I guess now we have the answer." I indicated Mia's hair, and she ran her fingers through it self-consciously.  
"And here I was thinking that the noises we could hear were savage wild animals moving around." I said.

Eddie went a tiny bit pink, but Mia shrugged.  
"Well, as you're all rested up now, I'm sure Lissa and Christian will be hearing some 'bears' in the tent later." She shot back.

Christian cut in.  
"Mia, if there are any noises to be heard from their side of the tent, then everyone will be able to hear. If a soundproofed wall doesn't stop all the noise, then the canvas sure won't."

My mom and dad looked murderous, but Dimitri was too busy choking on his coffee to notice. I patted his back, trying to help him.

"Now look what you did, Ass-face." Dimitri was still coughing.

"Hey!"Sydney suddenly said. "He's doing an impression of Rose trying to drink Russian Vodka!" It was her attempt at a joke, but I shot her the evils.

"Well, you can't blame me. That stuff was like rocket fuel. You could have warned me beforehand, or stopped at least me from drinking the next 500 shots."

"You still would have drunk it. And honestly, you looked like you needed it. Why else would they have kept giving it to you?"

She had a point. "Yeah, I needed it alright. It didn't really work though."

The others had been following the conversation with confusion. Mia finally asked the question I had been dreading since Sydney first brought the subject up.  
"When did you get drunk on Russian Vodka, with Sydney there?"

I looked down, not wanting to answer the question. I was silent for a few heartbeats.

"Roza?" Dimitri asked, sensing there was something wrong.  
I kept looking at the floor, but answered the question. He would find out sooner or later.

"Your funeral."

"Well, shit." Adrian said. I ignored him.

I carried on. "They- they wanted to know what you had been doing since coming to America. Then I had to tell them how it happened. There was just a toast at first, but people kept refilling my glass, not surprising, really, considering I must have looked giving that speech. They kept asking about _us_, and after I told someone they would just refill my glass, until everyone left and Sydney took that glass out of my hand." Everyone had looks of complete pity on their faces. All the guys had their arms around their girls.

I felt a warm touch on my back, and looked up from the ground into Dimitri's eyes for the first time since I started speaking.  
"Roza... you never said this before. You should have told me." His voice sounded so broken.

"I didn't exactly want to re-live it. Plus, it's not exactly normal to tell someone about their own funeral, even for someone who has spoken to ghosts. I didn't want this to happen." I gestured randomly.

He pulled me to him, and I collapsed into his arms, holding him as tight as I could. Though I had him back and everything was perfect, and the heartache was a long way past, it still didn't change the facts of what had happened.

When I pulled away, hastily wiping my eyes to catch the few stray tears that had escaped, I saw that most people had left to give us some privacy. They weren't far away; I could see and hear them in their tents, probably getting ready for the day.

Dimitri kissed me gently, and stood up, my legs wrapped around his waist. He carried me to our tent, and put me down on the camp bed, before lying down beside me. We were silent for a minute.  
"Roza, I'm so-"

I cut him off before he could say anything else.  
"Don't even think about trying to apologise for something you had no control over."  
He didn't try to talk again, but as I looked into his eyes and they told me more than words ever could. I didn't know what else to say, so I gave up trying to form the words, and instead pressed my lips to his.

The heat created between us helped to burn away the cold thoughts, and the completion I always felt with him chased away the memories of emptiness.

**DPOV**

As I lay there with Roza pressed tightly to my chest, my arms holding her tight, I wanted to stay that way forever. I couldn't face the idea of ever having to let her go. I thought of the pain in her eyes as she relived my death, my memorial. To have done everything that she had for me, even telling my family about what had happened, made me think for the millionth time how unbelievably lucky I was to have her. I had never expected to find a love like this.

Sure, I hadn't expected to go through life completely alone; if I hadn't met Roza I would probably be somewhere with Tasha right now, and after everything that had happened, that thought made me feel incredibly sad. How much of what she had done had been driven by jealousy, and how much of that was just who she was, and would have been even if things had been different? She had been a good friend to me, and could maybe have become something more one day, but it would have been something that needed work.

Roza had come into my life in a blaze of colour, fighting all the way. She was everything I never knew I wanted, and everything I had. I had never expected to fall for someone as reckless, crazy and just downright _Rose_ as she was, never really wanted to fall for someone who could see through every shield I put up, who could break down every wall. But I had always secretly wanted someone to love me unconditionally, someone to protect who would protect me after. Someone to live for.

But my Roza was all that and so much more. I had seen today and a thousand times before that she felt the same way about me, and I just wanted her to see how much I loved her. As I held her small body close to mine, I knew that I could never give up on her, never let her go, like she had never given up on me.

Tonight I would do something I had been thinking about for a while now, but had been waiting for the right time. That time was now.

A while later, I heard Lissa and Christian leave the tent, and Roza got up to get dressed, as she hadn't bothered to earlier. Like always, I couldn't take my eyes off her as she got changed. It was like she was a magnet that I couldn't help but be pulled to.

I stood up as she walked over to the canvas door. As she stopped to undo the zip, I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. Even 2 minutes apart from her was too much right now, when she might still be hurting, because of me.

She leaned back against me, taking a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"I am, because you're here. Don't leave me." She whispered.

I wasn't sure if she meant right now, or ever. It didn't matter; I didn't intend to do either.  
"Never." I replied, before catching hold of her hand and threading our fingers together as we walked out of the tent into the sunlight.

Lissa and Christian were sitting there, talking quietly. We made our way over to them, and heard them discussing what to do that day. They stopped talking as we walked closer, and turned around.

"Hey." Christian greeted us, and we sat down on the log next to them.  
As few minutes later, the others came out and, predictably, the discussion turned to the car journey.

Most of it was just banter, and I zoned out, planning for this evening. I had to talk to Lissa alone, so I could ask her a few things.

I tuned back in when Roza turned to me.  
"...And that was pretty sneaky of you to lock the doors like that, Comrade. But they didn't faze us one bit."  
With that, Lissa pulled out her camera, and we all watched the video of Rose getting out of the car by doing a handstand. We laughed even harder when the pictures that they had posed for came up, especially the one of Sydney. Adrian asked Lissa if he could have a copy of that picture, and Sydney slapped his arm.

When Christian saw the next photo on the camera, he grabbed it and looked incredulously at the screen.

He turned around to show me and the other guys.  
"Look, it's Officer Rage!" I looked at the screen to see Roza leaning back against the inside of the window, with the officer leaning through the window, smiling into camera.

"No, it's Officer Hottie!" said Mia, winking.

I knew it was stupid, but I couldn't stop feeling just a little possessive, and wanting to punch this guy in the face. This feeling increased when Rose pulled out a card from her pocket, with a name and phone number on it.

I really didn't like this 'Officer Hottie'.

She laughed when she saw the look on my face.  
"Aaw, no need to be jealous, babe. It's not like I called him." She grinned. "Yet."

I growled, and made a grab for the card in her hand. She held it out of my reach, and it soon became an all-out sparring match. By now, everyone in our group was standing watching us, and I could hear some of them making bets on who would win. Eddie and Abe were on Rose's side, and Christian, James and Adrian were on mine. James; because he hadn't seen Roza fight before, and Adrian thought I would win because I had the most to fight for.

Eventually, I managed to pin her, and she reluctantly held up the card from where it had been slipped up her sleeve. I took it triumphantly, smiling widely, and as she stretched up to kiss me, I crushed my lips to hers in a display of victory. It didn't last long, however.

Using my complete distraction, much like she had that time on the run, she pushed her hands against my chest and flipped me over; rolling so she was laying on top of me. Some of her hair slipped down from behind her back and cascaded down on either side of us, and she gave me her most killer smile. I couldn't fight back now- I was hypnotised. As she pried the card from my clenched fist, I glared at it, as though I could make it burst into flames. It didn't, and for a moment I envied Christian.

She laughed as she watched my face, and sat up. With a wink and a grin, she tossed the now balled-up card over her shoulder.

"Silly Comrade. I've got all I need right here." She leaned down to kiss me again, releasing her hold on me so I could meet her half way.

**RPOV**

We broke apart as there was an uncomfortable cough somewhere off to the side of us. I turned to see my mom shuffling her feet awkwardly, but Abe looked as though he was trying not to laugh. I could hear the other guys trying to decide who had actually won the fight, so they could see who won the bet.  
One side said that Dimitri had won, and I had just cheated, but the others said that he let his guard down to soon, and that I had overpowered him fair and square. The argument clearly wasn't going to go anywhere, so I decided to intervene.

"Guys, I'll sort this out. Give me the money." I said in a tired voice. Surprisingly, they did, and I split the money into 2 equal piles before distributing it.  
Between Dimitri and myself.

We turned and walked away, and it was a few seconds before the others caught on.  
"Hey! That's our money!" Christian shouted.

"No, it's mine! But it's definitely not yours!" Adrian added.

The others looked outraged too, except Abe, who looked pleased at this turn of events.

"Not any more. You were all wrong, because neither of us _lost_; we both got what we had been going for in the end. Therefore neither one of us could have won. So, the money goes to neither party, but to the participants themselves." I shoved the money in my jeans pocket, turning my back on whispers of 'Rose logic'. Half the guys said it as an explanation, the others as an expletive. Meh.

Alberta waved us over, and Dimitri and I went over to her, still holding hands. If I didn't have to let go of him, then why would I? There was a current that flowed through us whenever we touched, a bond that was almost as crazy as the one Lissa and I had both shared- we had both had to face death, and win, to get here.

There was not much room left on the log next to Alberta, so I sat on Dimitri's lap. Alberta smiled.  
"That was some fight there, I've got to say. I wouldn't like to have to go up against either of you, but together... well, it's like it's been rehearsed, like a dance or something."

Dimitri hugged my waist, and kissed my temple. "Well, whatever the world throws at us, that is how they'll find us: together, and ready to fight to keep it that way." He said it with such determination and belief, that my heart squeezed and a rush of warmth made me feel lightheaded.

I placed my hands over his where they were rested on my stomach, and turned to him. I smiled blissfully, and he brushed my cheek with the backs of his knuckles. I kissed him quickly on the lips, before turning back to Alberta, who was looking at us with an expression on her face strangely similar to that of a mother watching her children doing something endearing, and sort of silly.

"How you turned out to be as good a fighter as you did amazes me, Rose. I don't know how you had enough time for training when you can hardly keep your hands off each other."

I snorted. "Oh please. Chance would have been a fine thing. I think that 'tough love' is the only way to describe the attitude of my favourite mentor here." I patted his hands affectionately. "He still made me run laps every day and do like a thousand sit-ups, before demonstrating some new move that I would always be _totally_ focused on."My tone became innocent. "I don't know where you would get an idea like that from, Alberta. I would never _dream _of spending valuable learning time checking out my hot teacher, or nearly throw myself at him every time he... well, all the time, really. And I definitely never asked him to demonstrate something again just because I wanted the practices to last longer, or stare at him for a bit longer. Do you not know me at all?" I asked jokingly.

Alberta just raised one eyebrow, in a 'really?' way. Man, I wish I could do that. Dimitri laughed at my not-confession.  
"But seriously, though. We tried to be careful, and stay away from each other as much as possible. I mean, yeah, there were a few stolen kisses here or there, there were all the reasons that we shouldn't be together stacked against us, and I couldn't risk being kicked out of the school, or Lissa would have been alone. Dimitri couldn't risk losing his job, or worse, if anyone found out."

Alberta shook her head. "Well, you did a good job of hiding it. I knew that that there was just a teacher/student thing going on, but everyone just passed it off as friendship, as you were both close in age."

Seeing our faces, she laughed. "I bet you don't hear that often, but really, 7 years isn't that different in the grand scheme of things. Rose, you were always a lot more mature than people gave you credit for, especially when you came back to the academy the second time."  
She looked up at Dimitri. "And I suppose that we have you to thank for part of that."

She was silent for a moment, before continuing. "That was what clued me in that there was something else going on. Friends influence you, and new ones change you, but since meeting Dimitri you started to show traits that I had always known were hidden inside you, but they were buried deep. He brought them out in you, without you having to be someone you weren't. Around each other, you took on the positive aspects of each other's personalities. I'd never seen anything like it before, and I didn't have any other clues, so I didn't realise what it really was until you fought out on the quad during the field experience, the day of the attack.  
You were moving then like you were just now, so in synch that it was almost unreal, and when she pinned you, Dimitri, your face showed so much more than just pride. I was standing closest, and I swear, you could have cut the air between you with a knife." She paused, and focused on Dimitri.

"I had been planning on talking to you later that night, actually. I wouldn't have said anything to anyone; I just wanted to know exactly what was going on. I hoped I was right, that you were both in love. I wanted that so much, but thought it would be impossible for people like us. But seeing you two, gave me hope. Then I found James."

He had come and sat down next to Alberta about half way through the conversation, but had remained silent. He didn't know enough about us to comment, and like Dimitri, he wasn't one to jump into other people's conversations. Instead, he just picked up her hand and squeezed it.

Alberta continued.  
"Then there was the Rose's darkness attack, and seeing how worried you were about her proved all I needed to know. You loved her, she trusted you, and you were capable of keeping everything under wraps until graduation. That was all I needed to know." More silence.  
"It was a good thing that she had you, Dimitri. If you hadn't been there to calm her down, I don't know what we would have done. Only you could have comforted her like you did, and then we wouldn't have been warned about the attack."

It took her words a few moments to sink in. I turned to Dimitri, who I could see had realised the same thing as I had. Alberta chuckled.  
"Yes, I can guess what happened in that cabin. It does not take 4 hours to clean a few scratches, and the influence of darkness had lasted much longer then she would have become strong enough to break free of you, and then a fight would have ensued. No cuts or bruises on Dimitri, means no darkness-possessed Rose. Seriously, what else did you expect me to think you were doing in there? Playing cards?"

Dimitri looked very uncomfortable, I, on the other hand, didn't care all that much. Alberta didn't seem to. She carried on a moment later.  
"Anyway, you two were lucky to have that opportunity. If you hadn't been at the right place at the right time, then the Strigoi would most likely have taken over the school, and you two may not have had the opportunity to... express you love for each other. And regrets are one thing you cannot afford to have in our business." She finished, leaning into James slightly.

Neither of us knew what to say. Luckily, we were spared from having to say anything by Mia running towards us.  
"Rose!" She shouted.

"What?" I asked, instantly on alert for danger.

"Eddie wants to see you. Something about music and bananas..." She said in a mysterious voice. Oh, no. Not the banana song. I thought it would be a while before I had to sort out Eddie's iPod. I kissed Dimitri quickly and stood up, before sitting back down again and kissing him harder. I stopped when I heard Eddie shouting my name from his tent. I walked wearily over to the opening, wanting nothing more than to grab Dimitri and copy what Sydney and Adrian were apparently doing, judging by the muffled noises coming from the other end of the tent. Oh well, maybe later...

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**Don't you just love Alberta? I couldn't resist giving her a guy. She deserves it! :D **

**Review and Dimitri will get jealous over you ;P **


	8. Chapter 8

**Argh, sorry! My excuse for not updating is that VA is not currently the fandom occupying my brain the majority of the time. Still there, but being overshadowed by Bones and Castle, since both of the season premiers are here. So many proposals! Dimitri, you need to up your game a bit (hint hint ;P) But seriously, the teaser clips from Castle have been killing me. From the promo pics, I'm pretty sure I know what she's going to say, but you never know with those two!.. Rick & Booth, get out of my head- wrong fandom! Even worse, you're stealing Dimitri's thunder! Grr. Anyway, just a couple of days to wait until we can see the episode online, then hopefully these pre-wedding jitters will go away! (And how sad does that sound? I need to get out more. And stop watching Caskett videos on YouTube -.-) **

**Rose: Just shut up and get on with the story already! **

**Dimitri: And don't forget the disclaimer. **

**Me: Sorry I've been neglecting you guys. Dimitri, feel free to pull an Adrian and stalk my dreams tonight ;) **

**Rose and Dimitri: -_- **

**Me: Okay okay! Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead, not me. **

* * *

**DPOV**

As Roza walked away to go and talk to Eddie, I stood up and turned to Mia. I spoke quietly.  
"I need to talk to Lissa. Do you know where she is?"

"Oh, she's just in the tent with Christian. You may want to knock first, but I think you should be safe." She replied with a smirk.

I walked over to our tent, pausing at the doorway, listening. I didn't hear anything, so I went inside.

Lissa and Christian were sat on beanbags in the open middle section of the tent, watching something on her laptop. They both looked up as I came in.  
"Hey, Dimitri. Where's Rose?" Lissa asked.

"She's sorting something out for Eddie. A banana song or something?"

Christian nodded in comprehension, with a look that seemed to say 'good luck with that.'

"Lissa, could I talk to you for a minute? I won't keep you long."  
She looked a little surprised, but stood up came with me anyway. I led her out of the tent and into the surrounding pine trees, out of earshot of anyone else, especially Roza.

"What's this about, Dimitri?" She asked curiously.

I took a deep breath before replying; "I'm going to propose to Rose. Tonight." Anything else I was about to say was cut off by Lissa's squeal of surprise, and her jumping up and throwing her arms around me. I hugged her back, relieved that Lissa seemed happy about this.

She released me after a few moments, and it looked like she was about to explode with excitement.  
"Wow Dimitri I am so happy for you, that you found each other and that you love Rose as much as she loves you. It's so obvious to anyone but especially to me cuz I can see how your auras light up around each other and they match so perfectly. You're so good for her you've taught her so much and made her a better person and I used to worry about her and guys but I don't have to now because you've got each other and I'm so glad that she chose you because you're a great person and so I'm glad that you're one of my friends and I can't wait to plan the wedding!"

I blinked, shocked. She had said all that so fast that I'd had a hard time hearing all of it, and she hadn't taken a breath through the whole thing. She looked slightly winded now, so I took the opportunity to speak before the next crazy speech.

"Thank you, Lissa. I wanted to check with you first, to make sure you were okay with it. Do you think Rose is ready?" I asked.

She gave me a 'look'. "Dimitri, she'd been ready for this since the day she met you. In the realest way possible, you are soul mates. Don't worry so much."

I smiled, glad that Roza had such a great friend, friends, really, that I had inherited from her.  
"So, I know my sisters have had perfect proposals/weddings picked out since the age of about 11, just in case they ever do meet someone who wants to stay with them. Rose must have told you hers. I already have an idea, but I want this to be perfect for her."

Lissa thought for a moment, before answering. "She never went into that much detail about it; she never expected it to happen. But I do know that she wouldn't want other people around, in some beautiful place, not like in a restaurant." She laughed. "And she would always shout abuse at guys on TV that did things like get it announced at a baseball game, or put the ring in the dessert, though I think that's because she was scared of accidentally eating it."

I laughed as well. That sounded like Rose.  
"So personal, romantic and don't do anything stupid with the ring, right?" I checked.

"Perfect. You know her better than anyone, Dimitri, including me. Plus, I specifically remember her saying that it wasn't the place or time that mattered to her, but the person, so you'll do fine."

I was relieved. "I'm going to need to get away to sort this out, so can you keep her distracted, without making it too obvious? It's good that the bond is gone."

She grinned evilly, well, as evil as Lissa could look.  
"Only if you tell me your plan, because I know you have one. Oh, and show me the ring."

I pulled the small box out of my pocket, where I had been keeping it since we left Court. I didn't want Roza stumbling across it and ruining the surprise.

Lissa gushed over the ring, telling me over and over how beautiful it was. It wasn't as elaborate as the one Christian had got her, but she was the Queen after all, so money wasn't exactly an issue. Also, if Roza was going to be fighting in this, it had to be suitably resilient against getting smashed into a Strigoi's face, and not end up hurting Roza.

After I told her my plan for later, she looked at me the way she looked at baby animals- a look I did not get from many people, excluding my Roza. She hugged me again, before telling me that she would keep Rose distracted so I could go and get ready for later.

Talking to Lissa had taken a little longer than expected, so I was worried that Roza would be finished helping Eddie and had noticed I was gone. However, as I got closer to Eddie's tent, I could hear them arguing about something I didn't really understand, so instead of trying to get involved I sat down with a western and waited for them to finish.

About 20 minutes later, Roza came out of Eddie's tent, smiling triumphantly. I guessed she had won the argument, which didn't surprise me at all.

By now it was 5pm, so I had leave to set up what I needed for later. As Roza spotted me and came over, she was intercepted by Lissa.  
"Rose! Mia's got that new film we wanted to watch, she's putting it on now!"

Rose glanced back at me, it was clear she didn't really want to go watch the film.  
"Pleeease Rose" Lissa begged. I stepped in.

"Go on, Roza. You don't want to keep Mia waiting too long. I'll see you later." I didn't want her to go, either, but I had to keep her out of the way.

As soon as she was safely inside the tent, I left the campsite in order to find the perfect place to propose to Roza tonight.

**RPOV**

Once the film had finished, I lay back on Mia's camp bed, having spent the last 2 hours laughing my ass off. I was glad that I had watched the film, it really had been hilarious.

It was still bright outside, but we were not that far away from sunset. When we got outside, we saw the guys all sitting round the fire, laughing about something. They looked up as we went over.

I sat on Dimitri's lap for a little while talking and just generally annoying the guys. When the conversation turned to something I wasn't interested in, I turned to Dimitri, thinking I'd much rather be alone with him. He seemed to have the same idea.  
"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked me quietly.

I nodded. "Where to?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "We could... go for a walk through the forest and get away from this lot?" He asked hopefully. I loved this man.

"Sounds perfect." I replied. I stood up and stretched. "Looks like you guys are gonna have to spend the rest of the evening without my wit and charm. We're going somewhere we won't have to listen to your constant wise-cracks." I aimed this at Christian and Adrian, who snorted.

"Coming from you, Rose? Unbelievable. But by all means go, in fact, don't come back." Christian retorted.

"I'll miss you too." I said whilst doing my best impression of his sardonic smirk, before leading Dimitri away from them and towards our own tent. Just as we left, I saw Lissa give him a knowing glance. I dismissed it; I had more important things to think about. Like, finally, a night alone with Dimitri.

We went into our tent, Dimitri grabbed a rucksack from by the door, and I pulled on my coat. He was already in his duster, of course.

Once I was ready, he took my hand, lacing our fingers together. We walked through the pine trees in silence, until we could no longer hear the shouts and laughter coming from the campground. We were surrounded by nothing but birdcalls and the rustling of leaves overhead, and an amber evening light shone through the trees. I looked up at Dimitri, and saw that he was already staring at me.

I momentarily forgot how to breathe. The light was shining from behind him, backlighting his soft hair so it appeared a few shades lighter than usual. A few strands rested against his cheeks, and a smile softened his features so he looked completely relaxed and happy, an expression he only got when it was just me and him. His eyes were dark, focused intently on me, holding a look of wonder that was sure to be reflected on my face. He was beautiful; I swear there was no one on this planet as amazing as him. The forest around us, the mountains in the distance and the clear sky paled until the entire world was dark except for him, and I didn't even care.

And that was just on the outside. Inside, he was even more beautiful, if that was possible. He was everything I had ever wanted, but never thought I would have, and so much more. He truly was perfect, and he was _mine._

I wrapped my arms around Dimitri's neck and stood up on my toes to reach him. His hands came up to my waist and he leaned his head down to meet me half way. As we kissed I was hit by a tidal wave of emotions, and I would happily stay submerged forever, as Dimitri's lips were all I needed to survive.  
His arms tightened around my waist and lifted me up off the ground, and I tightened my arms around his neck to hold myself up.

When we finally broke apart for breath, I realised that at some time I had wrapped my legs around his waist, anchoring myself to him. He gently trailed the backs of his fingers from my temple, down my cheek and to my lips, letting them rest there. I turned my head slightly, and kissed his knuckles.  
"So beautiful." He whispered, and I reached up and held his hand where it rested on my cheek.

**DPOV**

As we walked, hand in hand, I couldn't help but steal glances at Roza, but she was facing forward, taking in the views of the forest around her. I had already been this way earlier, and nothing could compare to the beauty of my Roza.

Before long, she turned to see me already looking at her. Her breath caught, and she stared up at me with wonder.

I lost all conscious thought as I looked at her. In front of me stood an angel, and she was _mine._  
Her normally dark brown, almost black hair was lighter and the ever-shifting light danced through it, tinting it red. It framed her face, before cascading down her back and over her shoulders in loose silky curls that I loved to run my fingers through.

Roza's tanned skin glowed, and I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I couldn't risk breaking this spell.  
Her eyelashes cast long, delicate shadows over her smooth cheeks, and beneath them her eyes looked almost like dark amber as the sun lit them.

She was the most beautiful thing on the Earth, and it made my chest hurt just to look at her sometimes, but it was the sweetest ache. I never wanted to look away.  
I loved her so much, and almost asked her to marry me right then, but forced myself to wait. If I tried now, I would be incapable of coherent speech, and I would make this perfect for her.

When she put her arms around me and her fingers brushed the back of my neck, heat radiated from those points and spread throughout my body, and I pulled her close, never wanting to let go.

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**See, Dimitri didn't want to get left out of the proposey-boat :P I'll be back with what happens just as soon as I see what Beckett says, and Booth kick's Pelant's ass and asks Bones the same question! **

**Review and get to escape to the woods with Dimitri. How can you resist that?! **


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry, but I wasn't able to update because... oh wait, you aren't my teachers (hopefully, cuz that'd be weird! :3) so I won't make up excuses. But I'm back into VA now, so it's all good.  
To make up for it, here's a long chapter. Some of it will be repeated- I think it's important to have this scene from both R's and D's POV, but it's still long even without that repetition. **

_**Me: I don't own Vampire Academy. **_

_**Rose: Duh! Not even Richelle keeps her readers waiting this long! I thought The Fiery Heart would be out before you updated! **_

_**Me:... You forget I have power over you in my stories. Be careful, or I'll send you to a Justin Bieber concert and have Dimitri for myself. **_

_**Rose: :O Bitch. You wouldn't. **_

_**Me: We'll see...**_

**Anyway, enjoy the fluff :D**

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**RPOV**

10 minutes later, we started walking again. After half an hour, we started to climb a small hill. When we reached the top, I saw a log in the centre of the top of the hill.

We sat down, and as far as I could see, the forest stretched into the distance. The sun was really close to setting now, and when it did, we would have the best view.

Whilst I had been admiring the scenery, Dimitri was rummaging through the rucksack. He pulled something out of it, and handed it to me.

It was a box of my absolute favourite donuts. "Comrade! You are my favourite person in the world, you know that, right?"

He half-smiled. "Yes, Roza. Though the way you say it makes it sound like anyone who gives you donuts gets the privilege of that title."

"Well, duh. Everyone knows that food is the key to a girl's heart." I replied.

Just as we finished the donuts, the bottom edge of the sun dipped beyond the edge of the horizon. I leaned into Dimitri's side, and he wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close, and we watched the sunset together.

As the sun dropped lower, so did the temperature. When I started to get a little cold, Dimitri noticed, and moved me so that his duster was around both of us, and I was pressed against his warm side, with my head resting on his shoulder and one hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating. We hadn't had a lot of time alone together recently, so I was making the most of this.

We talked for a couple of hours, admittedly broken by frequent kisses, until the forest was dark around us, save for the light of the full moon that bathed the trees in a silver light. It reflected off a silver stream in the valley below that I hadn't noticed before, and a pair of owls called to each other in the night.

After a quiet patch where we had just been sitting enjoying each other's warmth, Dimitri was the one to break the silence.  
"Roza?"

"Mmm?" I answered. I felt his heartbeat quicken beneath my hand and wondered why.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too, Dimitri."

His heart quickened even more. What was going on?  
He moved away from me, and pushed off the log onto the grassy ground below, kneeling in front of me.

Wait, what the..? He was on _one knee_. He reached into his duster pocket, and pulled out a black velvet box. Was he..?

**DPOV**

We had been sitting in silence for a few minutes when I knew that my time was now. I quickly ran through what I was going to say in my head, and when I was sure, I spoke.  
"Roza?" My voice came out slightly nervous, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Mmm?"

"I love you." At least if nothing else I said made sense, that would.

"I love you too, Dimitri."

This was it. I knew I shouldn't be nervous, but despite Lissa's assurances, I still wondered if she was ready for this, or wanted it at all. Rose had said in the past she didn't want to get married until there was a '2' in front of her age, and I respected that. Even if she said yes, we didn't have to get married right away. I would be fine with a long engagement.  
I moved down onto the ground, and got down on one knee. I watched as the look of confusion on her face changed as she realised what was happening, though I couldn't tell what the emotion that replaced it was. I took a deep breath, and started.

"Roza, you are everything to me. I love you so much; I have never felt like this about anyone or anything before. When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where I am, and I could be anywhere in the world and happy, as long as you're beside me. I could be in paradise, but if you weren't there, I would never stop searching for a way out." Well, there went my short, well-planned speech. I was rambling a bit, something I rarely did. I carried on anyway.

"I had never expected to fall in love, never intended to, as I meant to spend my life saving others'. When I met you, everything changed. _They come first_ was not true anymore, I could never put anyone else before you. When I went to find you that night, and bring you back, it was not only 2 teenage runaways that I brought back. I had found everything that I never knew I wanted, everything that I had never thought to ask for was right there in front of me, and before I could stop to look and think, I was falling in love with you." Another deep breath.

"You have saved me, Roza, in every way possible. You have saved me from living a life that I never realised I didn't want, from living in the darkness simply because I had never seen the sun. You saved me from a life surrounded by other people, but never really caring about any of them. You saved me from going through life, trusting no one except myself.  
You've saved my life in battle so many times, because you were fighting beside me, and I knew that you always had my back, just as I had yours. You saved me because you gave me something to fight for, greater than just my own life or the lives of the people around me." This had to be one of the longest speeches I had ever given, but like the shaking of my hands around the ring box, I just couldn't stop. Roza's eyes were glistening, like she was about to cry. I hoped that was a good thing.

"You saved me from eternity as a monster without feelings, in a way that shouldn't have been possible. You saved me afterwards, from myself and the ever-present guilt I felt. You brought me back to the land of the living, and taught me how to _live_ again. You never gave up on me, even when I said the words that I regret more than anything else I have ever said or done. I will _never_ give up on you, Roza, and my love for you will _never_ fade." I had finally said nearly everything now. I opened the ring box, and her gaze left my face for the first time since I had started speaking. She stared at the ring for a few seconds, before looking back up at me. The tears that I had seen shining in her eyes fell silently, and I instantly reached up to wipe them away with my thumb.

"I am only myself when I'm with you, I can let my guard down that I keep up against the rest of the world. I'm complete when I'm with you; I swear every time I touch you, I _feel_ you. Spirit users tell us the same thing, that our souls match, that we complete each other, that we are not meant to be apart, and I know this is true. I have known it from the beginning."

One last shaky breath.  
"Rosemarie Hathaway, will you marry me?"

She smiled the most breathtaking smile I had ever seen, and a few seconds later she answered me.  
"Yes." She breathed. I slid the ring onto her finger, and she twisted her hand slightly, letting the moonlight reflect off it. I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it gently.

Then she started laughing and threw herself off the log, knocking me backward onto the ground.  
We were both laughing now, I was just so happy. I couldn't believe that I was going to get married. I had never imagined anything like this in my wildest dreams, never knew that love could be this strong.

We stopped laughing at the same time, but the smiles stayed on our faces. She was pressed against me, arms locked around my neck, mine holding her small, strong body close to mine as possible.

I pushed a piece of hair away from where it had fallen across Roza's beaming face, tucking it behind her ear. This allowed the moonlight to reach her fully, causing her normally golden-brown skin to glow silvery. Earlier I had thought that she couldn't possibly look any more beautiful, but I had been wrong.

Right now, wearing my ring on her finger, smiling because of the things I had said and promised her, she was radiant, and I realised that every time I looked at her would always be like the first time, that she would always surprise me in some way. The best thing was, she was looking at me the same way.

She smiled even wider, and I got the feeling that she knew what I was thinking. Leaning down, she softly pressed her lips to mine. It was like fireworks going off, like our first kiss all over again, but this time, it was all us.

I forgot instantly that I was lying on the hard ground with stones pressing into my back, and that it was cold outside of the confines of our embrace. Roza whispered against my skin. "I love you, Dimitri. This is perfect. Thank you, I love you."

I pushed her jacket off her shoulders, and she moved her arms so that I could take it off, before she removed my duster. More clothes came off, but I wasn't cold, and Roza's skin was warm against mine.

I breathed her name over and over, like a promise, like a prayer, and she whispered mine in return.  
Just us, alone where no one knew where we were, made it feel like our first time in the cabin. Magical, beautiful and perfect.

After we had finished, I pulled blankets out of the bag that I had forgotten about earlier, and we lay beneath the stars, staring up at the night sky. I used to wonder what was out there, if there were other worlds like this one. After all, we belonged in a different world to the rest of the things on this planet, yet we existed. Humans spent their time looking for things out across the universe, missing the other world that was living right alongside theirs.

But now, I didn't care about what was out there, it didn't matter anymore. My whole world was asleep in my arms, and I had found what I was looking for.

**RPOV**

Dimitri started to speak, his voice shaking slightly.  
"Roza, you are everything to me. I love you so much; I have never felt like this about anyone or anything before. When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where I am, and I could be anywhere in the world and happy, as long as you're beside me. I could be in paradise, but if you weren't there, I would never stop searching for a way out." Despite the waver in his voice, and the fact that his accent was stronger, a sure sign of nerves, I could tell that he truly meant every word that he said, and it made butterflies take flight in my stomach. Was he...

"I had never expected to fall in love, never intended to, as I meant to spend my life saving others'. When I met you, everything changed. _They come first_ was not true anymore, I could never put anyone else before you. When I went to find you that night, and bring you back, it was not only 2 teenage runaways that I brought back. I had found everything that I never knew I wanted, everything that I had never thought to ask for was right there in front of me, and before I could stop to look and think, I was falling in love with you.  
You have saved me, Roza, in every way possible. You have saved me from living a life that I never realised I didn't want, from living in the darkness simply because I had never seen the sun. You saved me from a life surrounded by other people, but never really caring about any of them. You saved me from going through life, trusting no one except myself." I flashed back to the time as , when he was the only one that realised that there was something serious going on with me, when I was seeing Mason's ghost. He had told me I could trust him, and when I had asked if he trusted me, he hadn't hesitated to say yes. That had been an important moment for us.

"You've saved my life in battle so many times, because you were fighting beside me, and I knew that you always had my back, just as I had yours. You saved me because you gave me something to fight for, greater than just my own life or the lives of the people around me." The emotion was so plain in his voice, something that he only ever showed around me, that I felt my eyes fill with bittersweet tears. I was happy that he thought of me that way, but it was sad to hear what he thought he would be without me.

"You saved me from eternity as a monster without feelings, in a way that shouldn't have been possible. You saved me afterwards, from myself and the ever-present guilt I felt. You brought me back to the land of the living, and taught me how to _live_ again. You never gave up on me, even when I said the words that I regret more than anything else I have ever said or done."

I tried not to flinch as I remembered the words, which thankfully I succeeded in doing. He had only been trying to keep me safe, and after everything he had been through, it was understandable. He had told me before how much he had hated himself even as he said them, and as soon as he saw how he had hurt me, he had wanted to take them back even if he believed them at the time, but I had left too quickly. He had wanted to apologise the next day, but after seeing the bite marks on my neck, he thought I was okay without him. Everything about that day was generally messed up, but it had all turned out perfect in the end.

"I will _never_ give up on you, Roza, and my love for you will _never_ fade." I couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and they rolled silently down my cheeks, the tracks they left behind becoming instantly cold.

Dimitri opened the box, and inside I saw the most beautiful ring ever. The band was platinum, and there was a seriously big diamond set deep into the metal, further held in place by more platinum. It was simple, and perfectly me. I realised that he had got it fixed so that the stone wouldn't get knocked out if I was fighting, and the band was thin enough that I would be able to turn it round and still punch things without having to take it off. The thought that he had put into this just made me cry more, and Dimitri silently reached up and wiped the tears away. Where his thumb brushed my skin the cold was chased away, leaving a tingly warmth behind.

"I am only myself when I'm with you, I can let my guard down that I keep up against the rest of the world. I'm complete when I'm with you; I swear every time I touch you, I _feel_ you. Spirit users tell us the same thing, that our souls match, that we complete each other, that we are not meant to be apart, and I know this is true. I have known it from the beginning."

He took a deep breath that shook, making me wonder if he was unsure as to what my answer would be. He needn't have worried.  
"Rosemarie Hathaway, will you marry me?"

When he finally said the words, I couldn't help the hugest smile that spread over my face. I had never thought that I would hear that question from anyone, much less from someone I loved as much and was as amazing as him.

I knew I had always said I wanted to wait until I was at least 20 to get married, and had still believed that right up until I saw the ring. I realised that by putting an age on it, I made it sound like a chore, something to put off. Like I'd be losing something, instead of gaining this amazing man as my husband.

Hearing his love for me, seeing the nervousness on his face, watching him take this risk, I knew there was no way I could say no to him.  
And I didn't want to.

"Yes." I answered, quiet as a breath. Carefully he took the ring out of the box, and I noticed an engraving on the inside of the band. I'd ask him about that later. But right now, he slid the ring gently onto my finger. It was a perfect fit, and I hadn't realised how worried about it not fitting I had been until now- I always hated it when that happened in films, and it was always a bad omen. I should have known better; Dimitri was way too organised and efficient to slip up on something like ring size.

I admired the way the diamond glowed in the moonlight; He caught hold of my hand again and kissed it, sealing the promise.

Suddenly all the pent-up emotions of shock and happiness burst out of me in a laugh, and I jumped off the log, locking my arms around Dimitri's neck. I must have caught him by surprise, as he fell backward, and I landed on top of him. He joined in my laughter, and when I looked into his eyes, I saw they were shining like they never had before. This was _my_ Dimitri, that so few people ever got to see, and I was so grateful that I had found him. So glad he'd made me realise that this was what I wanted.

As I thought this, we both stopped laughing, and instead smiled like loons at each other. I didn't care that I probably had the craziest grin on my face, it matched his. Pressed together like this, we were in our own little world, and nothing could touch us. I leaned down to kiss him, and so continued the best night of my life.

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**:') Mah bebbehs getting engaged :')  
Fangirl problem: referring to Dimitri as my baby, but still wanting to have **_**his**_** babies. Oh well, won't think too much about it :P **

**Review and Dimitri will propose! **


	10. Chapter 10

**I just want to thank my reviewers for their kind words- it makes me so happy that people enjoy reading what I write! May all your Dimitri/Adrian/otherVAguy dreams come true! **

**Disclaimer: I'm not Richelle Mead, so I don't own Vampire Academy. **

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RPOV

I woke up first the next day, which was rare. My back ached a bit from sleeping on the hard ground all night, but I really couldn't care less. I shifted a bit, trying to find a more comfortable position. In the end, I moved so I could look at Dimitri's sleeping face; he was smiling as he dreamed. He should enjoy it whilst it lasts though, as however stiff I was, Dimitri had to worse; at least I'd had him for a pillow. He appeared to be resting his head on his folded-up jeans from yesterday.

That made me remember that we didn't actually have any clothes on, and we were in the woods where anyone could stumble across us. Meh, I didn't really care. Lucky them, it was a privilege to see me without clothes, very few had, though many had wanted to.

I laughed at the thought of unsuspecting humans finding two naked half-vampires in the woods. The sound woke Dimitri up.

He didn't open his eyes yet, but moved his arm from where it was draped over my waist and rubbed my back, trailing his fingers over the sensitive skin and sending an electric current through my body, turning my thoughts to the night before.

As I shivered at the memory, he opened his eyes. "Good morning, my beautiful Roza." He whispered with a smile.

"It is." I whispered back. I played with the ring on my finger, and remembered the engraving. "What does it say?" I asked.

He knew what I was talking about straight away. "It's written twice; in English and Russian. Роза и Дмитрий вечно и всегда. Rose and Dimitri, forever and always."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so instead I pressed my lips to his, and hoped that I got my point across, of how much I loved him.

We watched the sun rise together, which was the perfect end to our little trip, and the perfect beginning to this next chapter of our lives. Oh dear, it seemed being engaged had made me turn sappy. I'd have to put a stop to that part before Christian picked up on it.

Just before we left, I took a picture of the 2 of us on top of our hill. I had no doubt that I would remember this moment forever, but still wanted tangible evidence.

As we walked back towards the campsite, I found myself getting more and more nervous about telling everyone. At first I had been excited, but now the butterflies had stopped flapping their pretty little wings and had turned into a swarm of bees, buzzing around in my stomach and being generally annoying.

It wasn't just what my friends thought; it was everyone else in the Moroi world. For Guardians to be together was scandalous enough, to get married sealed the deal that we weren't going to be making any more little Dhampirs with anyone else. Even worse, we were Royal Guardians, so what we did would reflect badly on Lissa.  
Dimitri was walking on my left, and noticing me biting my lip, which I only did when nervous or deep in thought, (let's face it, I wasn't going to be thinking all that much right now) took my hand, squeezing my fingers gently.

I looked down at our intertwined fingers, my ring sparkling between them. The image looked so _right_, that it washed away my fears. I looked up into Dimitri's brown eyes, and realised that the only person's opinion that really mattered to me was his, and that our friends wouldn't condemn us. They knew better than anyone that you couldn't help who you fell in love with. No matter what the rest of our world thought, we would always have a place in that group of social misfits. One of which, funnily enough, just happened to be the Queen.

I was Rose Hathaway, since when did I give a toss what people thought of me? This was going to be fun; I couldn't wait to see the looks on the faces of people I used to know when I introduced myself as Rose Belikova.

The thought sent pleasant shivers of anticipation down my spine, and I walked a little faster, suddenly desperate to show off my ring, and the story of my fiancé's perfect proposal.  
"Slow down, Roza. You'll trip and fall if you're not careful." Dimitri said, ever the sensible (boring) one.

I scoffed. "Me? Badass Guardian, epic fighter, trip over a tree root? Yeah, right."

He chuckled. "Well, at least look where you're going. You know what they say, 'pride goeth before a fall.'"

I let go of his hand, and spun around, facing the clear, blue early morning sky. "Whoever said that couldn't have been all that creditable. Who said it any-"

I tripped over a tree root, and hit the ground hard, right on my ass. I sat there, blinking in shock, whilst in front of me, Dimitri shook with laughter, barely able to stand up straight.

I huffed loudly, crossing my arms over my chest. "Well, it wasn't that funny. Now get your ass over here and help me up."

Still laughing, he made his way over to me. I shot him my best evils that would definitely have had anyone else running for cover, but it just made him laugh harder. He helped me up anyway, and stood looking down at me, shaking his head. I could sense one of his Zen lessons coming, so I cut in front of him before he could speak.

"Well, if you're _so_ much better than me in the complex art of walking, then go ahead and prove it to me. In fact, you can carry me the rest of the way."

I expected him to come back with some oh-so-mature response, or at least to shake his head at me, but crouched down in front of me instead.  
"Climb on, then. I know you wouldn't have fallen if you weren't in sugar withdrawal, so the sooner we get you breakfast, the better."

I didn't need to be asked twice. Shouldering the rucksack that he had dropped on the floor a minute ago, I jumped onto his back. He straightened up, bouncing me higher and holding onto my legs.

I held on tight around his neck, a rare feeling of _normal_ surrounding me. "Wow, Comrade. You can see for miles up here. How do you cope with the lack of oxygen and altitude sickness?" I joked.

"I don't know, you tell me," he said. Before I knew it, I was bumped up even higher, ending up sitting on his shoulders, hands on the top of his head trying to balance. Before I could stop myself, I shrieked, and he laughed at the very un-Rose like noise.

I didn't feel very stable, and though I knew he wouldn't let me fall, I didn't like it. I was well over 8 feet off the ground- his shoulders came to nearly 6 foot, then there was the height of my upper body. I tried to think of a comeback for his question, but it wasn't my best.  
"Uh- I think it's different for people with naturally giraffe-like proportions. Average people like me shouldn't be up here, we're not made for it." He hadn't stopped walking, and I was starting to feel a little dizzy.

He helped me down into a piggyback again, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, resting my head against his neck, relieved to be lower again. "Okay, respect to all giants for putting up with lack of oxygen. But that was mean." I said, and raised one hand to smack him gently on the top of the head.

"I'm sorry." He said, but he didn't sound it. In fact, he sounded like he was trying not to laugh. I let it go, just enjoying the ride.

When we eventually arrived back at the campsite, we saw everyone around the fire pit, eating breakfast. Christian was seated on the side of the fire facing us, so he saw us first. "Oh, hey. Looks like Rose did get the ride." It was actually a pretty good one, for him.

Everyone turned to where he was looking, and most called out greetings. Dimitri walked over to the edge of the circle, and I jumped off his back, landing right next to Lissa and Christian.  
"You bet I did, Pyro. And that's not all." He looked confused, but I left them in suspense, turning to Dimitri and giving him a pat on the cheek, with my left hand.

"Good boy." I crooned, earning laughs from those closest to us.

Suddenly Lissa shot up, and shouted "Let me see it!"  
It seemed that my flashing my left hand had not gone completely unnoticed after all, but I ignored her as I turned to face the crowd.

"Everyone, Dimitri and I are getting married." All the girls, except the Guardians of course, screamed, and came running over to me.

They all gushed over the ring, grabbing my hand to look at it, and asking questions on 'how he did it.' Not wanting to tell the story a hundred times over, I told them all to go get me something to eat, only then would we tell them what they wanted to know.

I quickly realised that Lissa had already known that Dimitri was going to ask me, I didn't need the bond for that. I didn't care though, and could tell that she wanted all the details. I wasn't surprised; after all, Christian had spoken to me before asking Lissa.

We spent the next hour telling the story; it took so long because we kept being interrupted by the girls asking silly questions, half of which we had already told them the answer to, the other half we didn't yet know the answer to ourselves, as they were about the wedding. All I knew was that I wanted to have the wedding in Russia, away from the judgement that would no doubt surround us at Court, and where Dimitri's whole family would be able to attend easily. After all, everyone else who I wanted at my wedding was here right now (except from Sonya and Mikhail, who would be joining us here tomorrow). They would all be able to make the trip.

I could tell that my mom wanted to talk to me, so as soon as people began disappearing off to do their own thing for the day, I left Dimitri talking to Christian about wedding dates. Lissa's wedding was coming up soon, and we didn't want anything to get in the way of that.

I made my way over to where mom was sitting, on the other side of the circle, next to Abe. I sat down on the other side of her.  
"Hey, mom, old man. What do you think?" I shoved my hand with the ring under their noses. Abe picked my hand up and brought it to his eyelevel, scrutinising the diamond. He raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"It's a good one; Belikov sure knows how to pick a rock." He said, grudgingly.

I turned to mom. "It's beautiful, Rose." She paused a moment. "Just as long as you're sure this is what you want, that you're ready."

I had been expecting this. "Yes, mom, I'm sure that I want to marry Dimitri. I love him, and after everything we've been through, I know he's worth fighting for."

She sighed. "I know that, but other people don't. Those at Court are judgemental at the best of times, and this will be quite the scandal. Also, you're my daughter Rose, and it's only been a year since we started speaking again. You may be ready for this, but you're still so young. You're almost 19; don't you think you should wait a while?"

I strung her along a bit. "What, like, 25?" I asked.

She smiled. "Exactly. I know you're engaged, but if you said you wanted to wait, then Dimitri would-"

I cut across her. "Then Dimitri would be 32." I let that hang between us for a few moments, before I continued. "Look, mom. I see why you don't want me getting married this young, especially when others will try to condemn us for it. But I'm Rose, since when do I care what others think of me? They've been judging me and spreading rumours my whole life, if they want to bitch about something that's actually true, then let them. In fact, I want the world to know that Dimitri is mine, and that I'm his." I took a deep breath before going onto my next point.

"As for waiting, you should know better than most people that as Guardians, we don't have the luxury of putting things off for later. I've lost Dimitri before, when we had only just...sorted things out between us. Then, we fixed everything again, and I got shot, and he nearly lost me. After that, I swore that one day, if I get into a fight that I can't win, I would die knowing that I did everything the way I wanted to, and I could leave this world with no regrets. I know this better than anyone, I _have_ died twice, and I've seen people I love die, too. I'm ready for this, and I _want_ it. You know what they say; Guardians have to grow up young. I didn't get much of a childhood, and I made my first kills young, I became a Royal Guardian at 18. I think I know if I'm ready to marry the man I love." I finished, daring either of my parents to try and contradict me.

I don't exactly know what I expected to happen, but it certainly wasn't this.

My mom stood up, and hugged me tight. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean it like that." She pulled back, but kept her hands on my arms. "I know that you've been through a lot, you both have. You've grown up a lot over the last year. Last few years, really. At the time, it may have seemed to us like running away was a childish idea but you were right all along that Lissa was in danger, and you kept her safe better than the Academy did. If you say that you're ready for this, then I believe you, and I'm happy for you."

Abe spoke now. "I'm proud of you, Kiz. It's good to see you inherited my gift of giving persuasive speeches. Though, we already knew that, since you talked your way out of being accused of killing the Queen. Dimitri's going to have his hands full with you."

I shook my head. "Thanks for that, dad. And he can handle it; he's put up with me for the last year, after all."

Abe focused slightly behind me. "He better do. If he hurts you, then I'll-"

"Yeah, yeah. He's heard it all before, haven't you?" I turned around to where I knew Dimitri was standing behind me. I took his hand, and stood up.

"Lissa wants to talk to you." He told me.

I turned back to my parents. "Well, Her Majesty calls. I'll talk to you later."

With that Dimitri walked over to where Lissa and Christian were. I sat down next to her, and Dimitri sat on the other side of Christian. "Hey, Rose. What did the scary parents say?"

I snorted. "Scary? Have you not met me? They are both dangerous, granted, but I am the perfect mix of both of them. However scary they are, I'm twice as bad, therefore do not fear them."  
Lissa and Dimitri both raised an eyebrow, but Christian commented, "someone has a high opinion of herself."

Lissa looked at him funny. "You actually understood that?"  
That shut him up, and I answered her question.

"They were worried that I was rushing into this, that I was too young. But I gave them a very impressive speech that I can't be bothered to repeat about why I _was_ ready, and that shut them up. Oh, and my mom nearly cried at the end."  
They all blinked in shock.  
"Yeah, I know, right?" I was still amazed, but glad that she obviously cared that much about me."

Lissa suddenly jumped up and started speaking. "Oh, Rose! I just remembered, what do you want to do for your birthday? It's the day after tomorrow, after all. I mean, it's only 2 days away."

Aah, shit. I was hoping that they'd have forgotten, I'd been deliberately avoiding this.

Dimitri spoke up. "I thought you two would have already planned something."  
Yeah, I had planned to spend the whole day with Dimitri, preferably in bed.

"We don't have to do anything special. I thought we could just watch a movie or something. 19 isn't really a big deal."

I saw understanding in Lissa's eyes. Christian was a different matter. "Well, yeah. But I thought you'd want to make something of it, seeing how your 18th was so...oh." He trailed off, realising his mistake. I glared at him.

"Yeah, I think a movie sounds great." Lissa said quickly.

"And we could just play some games or something." Christian added.

"That's perfect, guys. Go for it."Dimitri looked between us, confused. Before he could speak, I jumped in. "So if we're all sorted here, who wants to go for a swim in the lake?" I asked.

Mia, who had just walked up, shouted to everyone else; "Swimming in the lake, everyone!" before running off to find Eddie.

Lissa stood up. "Looks like we're swimming, then. Come on Christian." She dragged him away to their tent, and I followed, shouting after them. "Don't forget your floaties, Pyro. Fire and water don't mix, remember?"

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**That's all for now, don't want to overload everyone. I think we're all pretty high on the set pictures, anyway ;P SO MANY FEELS. **

**Review and go swimming in the lake with Dimitri... Dimitri, just wearing trunks, covered in water, secluded location... mm-hmm! Now go review! ;D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Mmm, time for what you've all been waiting for... drenched, topless Dimitri! Enjoy! :D **

**I think I forgot to mention last chapter that we've passed the 100 review mark- thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to leave your comments. It's much appreciated. Thanks to catnip851 for the 100th review :) **

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead. Without it, I have to be content with my own imagination- which is almost as good...I don't own that sentence either :( Kinda creepy to be sharing thoughts with Strigoi Dimitri... At least I own my dreams :) And Strigoi Dimitri doesn't have them :P **

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**DPOV**

After the tense conversation about Roza's birthday, I wanted to know what was going on, especially after Christian's comment about her 18th.

I knew that I wouldn't find out from Rose or Lissa, or any of the girls.

As Rose and I got changed in the tent, there was an awkwardness between us that I hated. Fortunately, the longer I went without mentioning it, the less awkward it became, though the weight of the thing she was keeping from me increased. I decided to put the ever-more ridiculous fears out of my head, and just enjoy myself.

When we reached the lake, the girls took off the towels and dresses that had been covering them. When I saw Roza in her bikini, it was easy to become distracted. It was barely more than a few scraps of fabric, a bright red that looked amazing against her dark skin. The top was strapless, and didn't leave much to the imagination, though I knew perfectly well what was underneath.

After that thought, I ripped off my t-shirt and dived, the first one in the water, thankful that it was cold, not that it bothered me anyway. Fortunately, the lake had the same effect as a cold shower. As the other girls got undressed, I could see the other guys having the same problem, and getting into the water pretty quickly, too. Christian stepped in tentatively, Eddie dived like I had, and Adrian attempted to copy, but ended up doing a very painful-looking belly flop, and as he stood up at the shallow edge of the lake I could see red patch on his chest and stomach as proof of that. Sydney was laughing at him, which I think hurt more than his body.

When the girls tried to get in, their reaction to the temperature was a little different to ours. It wasn't exactly comfortable for the other guys, but it was necessary.

Lissa called Christian over to where she stood, shivering, and Abe walked over to them from where he had been sitting on the small beach with Janine. Mia joined the discussion, and they turned their attention to the water.

With looks of concentration on their faces, I felt the water warm up to a more comfortable temperature; the fire users were combining their magic with Mia's water to heat the lake.  
With this taken care of, Roza was the first one in, showing off with a perfect swan dive into the water. Her body like the most graceful of arrows, she barely made a splash, and I swam over to her, and she spoke.

"Sydney wants to know what the bottom of the lake is like, how deep it is, and if there are any fish in here."

"Hold on." I replied, before diving down. My eyes were less sensitive to water than human eyes, so it was easy to see through the clear waters to the bottom of the lake. Seeing everything I needed, I swam back to the surface, and faced Sydney, who was standing on the bank nervously.

"The bottom is mostly sand with a few smooth stones, there are plants just around the edges, and there are some small fish round them, but not in the middle. You won't be able to touch the bottom in the middle, but it's not too deep, as I can just about reach."

"Thanks Dimitri." She looked reassured, but not entirely happy. I swam away to let Adrian help her in, as she didn't seem happy to jump the 2 feet or so from the firm part of the bank to the water.

I swam over to Roza, who was floating on her back with her eyes closed. Feeling a little mean, I swam silently underneath; I quickly wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her out of the water.

She screamed. "Dimitri!"

I laughed at her splashing around, trying to stand upright again. I helped her, and when she turned to face me, I was scared. The look of absolute rage on her face was enough to send me swimming for cover, but she caught up with me and dunked my head. I hadn't been expecting it, so breathed in a lungful of water. After I finished my coughing fit, I saw her standing in front of me, smirking.

"Payback's a bitch. So am I." Roza told me, still smiling evilly. I splashed her face. She splashed me back.  
So it became a war, until we ended up very close together, in a deep part of the lake where it wasn't easy for her to stand up. The water came to just under her chin, but only reached half way to my upper arms.

I pulled her closer to me, hands on her hips, lifting her to my height. Her wet skin was glistening in the sunlight, and she lifted one hand to brush a strand of wet hair off my cheek.

We kissed with a passion that could have set fire to the water. I ran one hand up her back to knot in the wet hair at the base of her neck, and her fingernails were digging into my skin. Roza wrapped her legs around my waist, leaving one of my hands that had previously been supporting her free. I moved my hand from her lower back and brought it to her toned stomach, stroking the skin with my thumb.

I had just trailed kisses down her jaw and was about to reach her neck, when suddenly we were hit by a huge torrent of ice-cold water.

It was such a contrast to the previous heat that had been trapped between our bodies that Roza screamed, and I had to bite back a shout, which instead came out a growl. I locked both arms around her shivering body possessively, and turned to see what had happened.

The cause of the problem, it seemed, was Mia. This was obvious from the fact that everyone was now standing on the beach at the edge of the lake, laughing at us, and hi-fiving Mia. She must have used her water magic on us.

I walked quickly over to them, holding a still-shivering Roza. Her arms were pulled in, hands resting against my chest, with her face buried in my neck. Her skin was a slightly strange colour, a faint blueish tint visible under her tanned skin, which was paler than usual.

I was about 10 feet from the bank when Roza stopped shivering completely, but her skin was still cold on mine. This was not a good sign, and I rubbed her back to try and warm her up. I recognised it from when I was 15, when Ivan had dared one of my Dhampir friends and me to swim in a frozen lake, after a water user cleared a hole in the ice. I had been fine, aside from cold, but as soon as Sergei hit the water his muscles locked up, and he started to sink. I'd had to pull him out, and he'd gone into shock. He'd been fine after he warmed up, but since it was my Roza this time, I was irrationally worried.

When I reached the bank, I tried to put her down so I could climb out, but her limbs were too stiff to move. So, I had to climb out still holding her, which wasn't easy, but I managed.  
"That'll stop you from getting all hot and heavy where others can see you!" Adrian shouted.

"Yeah, thought you'd need a cold shower." Mia added.

I ignored them all, and instead sat down on the sand, picking up Roza's towel and wrapping it round her shoulders, whilst I whispered to her to hold on, that she'd be warm soon.

The laughter of the others died down as they realised something was going on, but Lissa was the first to realise that something was actually going on with Rose. She came running over to us.

"What's the matter with Rose?" She asked, worried. I didn't look up as I answered.

"She's gone into shock from the cold. We need to warm her up, slowly."

"Shit." I heard Lissa say, before she ran back to the others. It was one of the few times I'd heard her swear, the other being when Rose had been shot and she'd been forced to stay away. I managed to move Roza enough so that I could see her face. Her usually red lips were a disconcerting shade of blue, and when she saw me looking at her, they moved, as though she was trying to speak.

"Ssh, Roza. You'll be fine in a minute."

"D-Dimit-tri..." She stuttered, before starting to shiver again. I breathed a sigh of relief, this was a good sign.

"I'm here, Roza. _Ya zdes, lyubov moya._" I held her close again, trying to warm her up. It didn't help that I had been covered in water as well, my skin was cold; I was just used to it and didn't feel it.

I heard footsteps behind us, and turned to see everyone coming over. Their expressions varied between worry, apologetic and embarrassment. Abe and Janine had apparently left; and I wasn't sure whether to be grateful for that or not.

"Rose has gone into shock from the cold. She needs to be warmed up, Christian, can you do that?"

He stepped forward, kneeling down beside us. I moved Roza in my arms so that she was laid across them, bridal style. Christian took one of her hands in his, and placed his other hand on her forehead.  
He closed his eyes as he called the magic, then turned to me.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri. The cold was my idea. Mia just wanted to make the wave hit you, because we thought it would be funny. But then I suggested that we make it cold, because it would make Rose really angry, which, as long as she doesn't catch you, is hilarious. But I didn't mean to make it freezing. I'm obviously better at heating things up than taking the heat away." He looked down. "I know me and Rose fight all the time, but I like her, really. She's like a sister to me, and I'd never hurt her intentionally."

Should I tell him that Rose was actually conscious and could hear every word he said? No, I'd let him figure that out for himself.  
"Well, as long as you're ready for her revenge. Because you can guarantee she's already planning it right now."

Genuine fear crossed Christian and Mia's faces. "Are you going to help? Because I might start running now." Mia asked.

I shook my head. "No, I'll just watch Rose do it. And laugh at you, like you did to me."

Adrian joined the conversation then. "Yeah, why did Rose come off so much worse than you? I mean, you barely flinched. You must have balls of steel or something."

"Oh, please. I was raised in Siberia; I learned to swim in the middle of winter, in a half-frozen lake when I was 6. When I was 15, I swam from one end of the lake to the other under 3 inches of ice for a dare."

They looked impressed when I told them the first part, and shocked when I admitted to completing a stupid dare. Well, it was 10 years ago.

"Whoa, Badass Belikov!" said Adrian.

"That's my man." I looked down quickly to see Roza stirring in my arms, her normal colour restored to her beautiful face, though her lips were still a little off-colour.

"Roza." I hugged her tightly; and I was relieved to feel that she was warm again. She hugged me back, before turning in my arms to face everyone else. I didn't need to see her eyes to know that she was glaring at everyone, as they all backed off a couple of steps.

I helped her to stand up, and passed her the sundress that was lying on the ground. Once it was on, Roza took one step towards Christian, who paled.  
"Maybe big bad Russian over there doesn't care about the cold, but I do. I also don't appreciate having a really great make-out session with aforementioned Russian interrupted. In fact, it makes me very angry. What do you think will happen to the little shit that pissed me off?"

Her voice was cold, and I was glad that it wasn't directed at me. My Roza could be scary sometimes.  
Christian gulped, before pointing at Mia.  
"She did it. I'm fire; I couldn't have made that wave. Did you get brain freeze or something?"

I heard Lissa whisper to Sydney, "Lying and insulting Rose right now, Worst. Mistake. Ever."

Rose took another step towards Christian.  
"I know it was your idea to make the water cold, Fire-crotch. I heard the whole conversation, little brother, and though you may not want to hurt me intentionally, I can assure you that I have no such reservations. Let me show you _my _magic, bitch."

With that, Rose kneed Christian in the crotch, and he dropped to the floor, eyes shut in agony. I knew how much that hurt; Rose had accidentally kneed me there in training once, harder than I thought possible, though she had apologised profusely afterward. Christian was not as lucky, and she then kicked him in the kidney, before turning to Mia.

"I really was wrong. Water is a great weapon, and I have to say your original idea was a good one. But I think you owe me a favour, so do your worst." She indicated Christian with her hand.

Mia grinned before dumping a load of muddy lake water all over him. Everyone laughed, and Rose smiled triumphantly. "That's what I call instant Karma."

I smiled, trying to hold back another laugh. Christian cracked one eye open, and looked up at me. "Don't laugh yet, Dimitri. You're marrying that."

Fast as lightning, Rose struck out with her foot and kicked Christian in the balls again, this time breaking a few bones in his hand as well, as he was holding his crotch.

He looked beseechingly at Lissa. "Heal me." He croaked out. Lissa looked like she wanted to, but quickly shook her head.

"Sorry, babe. You brought that on yourself." With that she stepped over his body, and we all walked back to the campsite, leaving Christian groaning on the sand.

* * *

**Review and share body heat with Dimitri ;) **


	12. Chapter 12

**Be prepared for drama... ;D And some Rose & Lissa bonding that has been missing for a while :) **

**Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead, not me. Obviously, or I wouldn't still be waiting for The Fiery Heart -_-**

* * *

**RPOV**

As soon as we got back to our tents I went inside to change my clothes. When I came out 5 minutes later, I was wearing sweatpants and a thick jumper. I was still kinda cold, but aside from that I felt fine. I sat down on Dimitri's lap, and he wrapped his arms around me, chasing away the last of the chill with his body heat. He was only wearing jeans and a tight-fitting black T-shirt, but if he wasn't cold, then I wasn't complaining. He looked really good, but then again, he always did.

Just as the last person sat down by the fire, Christian appeared through the trees, walking slowly with his legs apart, grimacing. We all clapped and cheered as he came closer, and Adrian stood up to heal him. I didn't object- he had suffered enough.

I had been surprised when Lissa hadn't healed him earlier, and intended to ask her why later. I knew that since she was Queen and was stressed enough with that, she was supposed to be cutting down on the Spirit she used, but I thought she would at least heal her own fiancé's minor injuries.

I tuned back into what Adrian and Christian were saying. Adrian had just finished healing him. "Is that better?" Adrian asked.

Christian stretched, grimacing when something clicked. "A little. But my balls still hurt like crazy. Can't you do anything about that?"

Adrian took a step back. "Sorry, dude. I have to touch the affected area to heal completely, and I don't love you enough as a friend, or in any other way, to go near your dick. So suck it up and take it like a man, or get Lissa to heal it for you." He looked around for her, but she appeared to be very deep in conversation with Eddie, and pretended not to hear him. What was going on?

We ate lunch, and after we were finished, I volunteered Lissa and I to go and wash the plates at the communal water-trough thing.

We did all the washing up in silence but on the way back I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a fence, leading to the empty kids' playground.

"Lissa, what's going on?" I asked.

"What do you mean, Rose? Nothing's going on, I-"

"Bullshit." I interjected. "You've barely spoken to me all day, and then you refused to heal Christian- twice. On top of that, bond or not, I just know you too well for you to hide things from me. You're worried, anxious, and kinda excited. You've got a secret, and you can't keep it from me forever. So, spill."

She sat down on one of the swings that was just to one side, and I sat down on the one beside her. She took a deep breath , before turning to me. "I was going to tell you tonight, Rose, I swear. I'm just..."

"It's okay, Liss. You can tell me." I said gently, moving my swing closer and putting my arm around her.

I waited for her to continue.  
"Well, I think I'm pregnant."

Shock ran through me, then worry, then excitement. "Lissa! You're carrying Christian's spawn and you never told me! How long have you known?" I shouted.

She smiled weakly. "Tell the whole world, why don't you? And anyway, I'm not entirely sure yet. I didn't want to find out on my own. But that's why I couldn't heal Christian, because I don't know how using Spirit will affect the baby. I've been hiding my aura from Adrian already today, because if I am pregnant, I don't want him shouting it out to the world."

I thought about my next question for a minute. "Does Christian know?"

She shook her head. "I want to know if I am or not before I tell him."

Fair enough. I hugged her, and stood up. "Come on. There's no use worrying about this yet. Let's go find out if there's a mini Christian inside you." I paused. "On second thoughts, let's call it a mini Lissa. Much less disturbing."

She gave a shaky laugh, and hugged me again. "Thanks Rose. Let's do this."

* * *

20 minutes later, we were standing in the ladies toilets. Lissa had the newly-bought and used pregnancy test in her hand and I had my phone on timer, with 1 minute left.

Lissa suddenly put the test face down on the sink. "Rose, I'm scared. I don't know if I'm ready for this, or if Christian is. I'm _eighteen, _Rose."

I smiled reassuringly. "Lissa, you're also engaged to be married, are Queen of the Moroi, and have been through more than most people do in their whole lives. As for Christian, you two were picking out baby names and talking about 'little Dragomirs' when you'd only been dating a month. I think he's ready, and you'll be a great mom."

She nodded slowly. "But what if he doesn't want this baby?"

I gritted my teeth. "Then the ass kicking he received today will be nothing compared to what he gets if he says that to you."  
She didn't look reassured.  
"Look, Lissa. All joking aside, if you are pregnant, Christian will be great about it. I'll always be here to help and support you, and so will Dimitri. Any kids of yours will be the most spoiled on the planet, they'll have their Aunt and Uncle right there with them always, and the rest of the freaks that we lovingly call our friends."

This made her smile. "But I'm so unprepared."

I shrugged. "So read a baby book. And seriously, Dimitri is amazing with babies. He helped with Viktoria, and then Paul and Zoya. They love their Uncle Dimka, and I like to think they love their Auntie Roza too. We'll never have kids of our own, so we'll have to make do with borrowing any of yours. You're not alone in this, Liss. Pinkie promise."

She smiled fully as we linked pinkies, remembering the old days. That smile disappeared as the timer went off. She panicked again, and I forced down the knot of unease that had formed sometime through my last speech.

"I can't do it, Rose. You look." She tried to turn away, but I pulled her back.

"No, you have to do this. If it's positive, how are you going to cope with the rest if you can't even check if there are 3 lines on a stick? You have to do this, Liss."

She shuddered. "Okay. But can we do it together?" She asked quietly.

"Of course."  
A middle aged woman had just walked into the bathrooms and was giving us a dirty look, so I shot her my best evils. She backed off and left with a scowl, and Lissa and I both put a hand on the stick.  
"1, 2, 3." I said, and we turned it over.

Positive.

Lissa suddenly burst out crying, and I hugged her tight, lowering her carefully to the bench that was on one side of the bathrooms, next to the showers.

I sat with her for another 10 minutes. When she finally pulled herself together, she looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry about that, Rose."

I smirked. "Hey, blame it on the hormones."

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Alright. The others are going to wonder what happened to us. What are we going to say?"

I thought for a moment. "Leave it to me," I told her with a wicked grin.

She smiled for the first time since finding out the test result. "Yes, O Master of Excuses."

* * *

We walked back into camp 5 minutes later, dripping wet and carrying the washing up stuff.  
"What took you so long?" Christian asked. "And what happened?"

I grinned. "Well, Liss was washing up, and I was doing the drying. She said I wasn't very good at it, so I suggested we switch places. Then, I added a bit too much washing up liquid, so it was way too bubbly. Lissa got annoyed at me, so I flicked some of the bubbles in her face. We then got into a bubble fight, which evolved into a water fight. Then we saw these two really hot guys looking at us, and we saw our shirts had gone all see-through. So naturally, we flirted with them for a bit, before they got a bit to touchy-feely."

Dimitri and Christian growled. Well, Dimitri did, it sounded more like Christian had something stuck in his throat and was trying unsuccessfully to clear it. I carried on. "Then I beat them up, making it clear that my heart belongs to another." I paused, putting my hand over my heart for effect. "Adrian."

Everyone except from Dimitri laughed, and I walked over to him.

"Aaw babe I'm joking. I love you really." Before he realised what I was doing, I hugged him tight, the water on me making his shirt almost as soaked as my own. He tried to push me away, but I held on tight.

After a few seconds he succeeded, his greater strength forcing me to let go.  
"Yeah, good idea. We don't want a repeat of earlier. I'm gonna go change, be out in a minute. Coming, Lissa?"

We left the circle to go into our tent, and once there she texted Christian to meet her there, because she 'couldn't find her blue top'. Her excuses were as not as imaginative, or funny, as mine.

Once he was in the tent, he seemed to realise that this wasn't a fashion emergency.  
Lissa was sitting on their bed, and I was waiting by the door, which I zipped up behind him. I didn't feel entirely comfortable being here, but Lissa had insisted that I stay.

"What's going on?" He asked, sitting down beside her. Sensing her fear, he took her hand.

"Christian, I...I..." She choked off as fresh tears slid down her cheeks.

"What, Liss? What's the matter?"

She just shook her head silently. Christian looked to me, worry clear on his face. I kept my Guardian mask in place; this was not my story to tell.  
"Lissa, please, sweetheart. I'm getting worried here." He begged, voice wavering. The poor guy looked really scared.

She looked back up at him, and he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Christian, I'm... I'm pregnant." She whispered.

The look of relief that came over his face lasted only a few seconds, before it was replaced with joy.  
Christian pulled her to him tightly, whispering words that I couldn't hear, and that I didn't want to. I had done my bit here, and went to change.

I went back outside to find Eddie and Adrian teasing Dimitri about how he let me get away with anything. I walked up behind them and slapped them both upside the head at the same time.  
"Just because I can tease him, doesn't mean you two can, bitches." I told them, before sitting on Dimitri's lap. Since there weren't enough seats for us all, mine was apparently going to be Dimitri for the duration of this trip. Not that I was complaining.

"Sorry about that, Comrade. But I had to create a distraction to get the attention off Lissa." I explained in a whisper.

He looked at me questioningly. I shook my head. _Later._

Later turned out to be about half an hour later, when Lissa and Christian finally emerged from the tent.  
"Everyone, we have something to tell you." Christian said. Because of the authoritative tone in his voice, everyone stopped their previous conversations and turned to him.

Dimitri looked at me, silently asking if this is what I had been talking about. I nodded.  
"Lissa is pregnant."

There was a few seconds silence, before everyone began congratulating them. Me being me, I just had to shout, "Who's the father?"

Christian glared at me, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips. He knew I was only joking, and thought it was kinda funny.  
"Dimitri." He shot back, earning a laugh from me, but a confused look from the man in question.

"So I guess it's okay to tell them about our little love affair then."

"In your dreams, Rosie." He said with disgust.

"Nightmares, maybe." I retorted.  
He turned his attention back to Lissa and the crowd that was gathered around them. Dimitri and I waited until everyone else was done before heading over. I'd already known, anyway.

As Lissa embraced Dimitri, I hugged Christian, and said; "Still on for tonight then, lover boy?"

Lissa and Dimitri turned to look at us, I'd spoken just loud enough for them to hear.

"I'm counting the seconds, Babycakes. I can't wait."

Lissa and Dimitri rolled their eyes, and we went back to our seats.

* * *

**So that's why Lissa wouldn't heal Christian! We'll let her off for leaving him in pain this time... **

**Please leave me a review- I love hearing from you all! **


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